Illegal immigrants increasing: data

The number of foreign nationals illegally staying in South Korea increased by nearly 100,000 on-year to surpass 330,000 this year, government data showed Sunday.

According to the data of the Ministry of Justice, 330,005 foreigners were staying in the country without valid visas as of July, up 97,834 from 232,171 logged July of last year.

The data ― which revealed the number of illegal aliens over the past 10 years ― was submitted to the National Assembly.

The annual average number of reported crimes committed by foreigners came to 43,635 over the past five years, the data showed.

This number was to 34,460 in 2013 and steadily increased to peak at 53,151 in 2016 but was slightly down to 45,671 in 2017.

(Yonhap)