International student numbers hit record high in Korea

The number of international students in Korea was a record 117,565 as of August, the Ministry of Justice said Wednesday. / Korea Times file

• Published Oct 5, 2016 4:00 PM KST
• Updated Oct 5, 2016 4:00 PM KST

By Lee Jin-a

A record high of nearly 120,000 international students were studying at Korean universities as of August.

Ministry of Justice figures released Wednesday show the number increased to 117,565, up 19 percent from last year. It was the highest since the government starting compiling statistics in 1960.

The largest group came from China (58 percent), followed by Vietnam (10 percent) and Mongolia (5 percent).

But the percentage of students from Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries remained low. Among them, 2,694 students (2.3 percent) are from Japan, 1,702 (1.4 percent) from the U.S. and 1,364 (1.2 percent) from France.

The ministry classifies foreigners with “D-2 (regular educational program),” “D-4-1 (Korean language training)” and “D-4-7 (Foreign-language training)” visas as international students.