By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter
Garibong-dong in southwestern Seoul has the largest number of foreign residents.
According to Statistics Korea, Sunday, 870,636 registered overseas nationals live in Korea and 255,000 of them live in Seoul.
By district, Yeongdeungpo District had the highest number of foreigners with 35,949 and by dong, Garibong-dong in Guro had the largest number at 7,638.
Yeongdeungpo-gu is trying to create better living conditions for expatriates in the district. Yeongdeungpo Multicultural Village Center was opened in August 2009 to serve the needs of international residents, especially migrant workers.
The ward also published a 90-page guide book for foreigners last week, which contains information on such items as separate garbage collection and seal impression registration for foreigners. The district office will distribute some 1,000 of the books, free of charge, at the Yeongdeungpo Multicultural Center, local community centers and the district office.
Following Yeongdeungpo, Guro-gu, Geumcheon-gu and Gwanak-gu had large numbers of expatriate residents. These areas have concentrated industrial complexes, and many migrant workers live near their workplace.
Yongsan District, known as a "foreigners' district" marked sixth with 12,492 expatriates. The foreign resident population of Seoul has grown 4.5 times in 10 years, compared to the 57,189 in 1999.
Seoul City provides its one-stop Dasan 120 Seoul Call Center service in five foreign languages.
The service now runs until 10 p.m. seven days a week and is available in English, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese and Mongolian.
Those who need information related to tourism or on problems living in Seoul can dial 120, press 9 and select the desired language.