Foreign population hits a record high amid student surge

The number of foreign residents in South Korea has hit a record high at nearly 2.26 million, with foreign students increasing by 21% year-on-year to fuel the jump, the interior ministry said on Wednesday 8 November, writes Kim Hyun-soo for Yonhap News Agency.

As of 1 November 2022, the number of foreign residents had stood at around 2.258 million people, a 5.8% jump from a year earlier, according to a report released by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. The number includes foreign nationals residing in the country for more than 90 days, naturalised Koreans and the children of multicultural families, with one of the parents being a foreigner.

The number of international students and overseas Koreans rose by 20.9% and 7.9%, respectively, year-on-year, driving the leap in the foreign population.
Full report on the Yonhap News Agency site