By Yun Suh-young
The number of people who came into and left the country in 2012 was 50.3 million, up 10.8 percent from the year before, the Ministry of Justice said Sunday.
It was the first time that the number has exceeded the 50 million mark and was comprised of 28.1 million Korean nationals and 22.2 million foreigners.
The number of Koreans exiting increased by 8 percent from 2011 to about 14 million and the number of foreign entrants increased by 13.9 percent to about 11 million.
The number of foreign sojourners exceeded 1.4 million which took up 2.8 percent of the total population. Of them, those who stayed over 91 days reached 1.1 million. Out of the foreign residents that came into Korea, 36.6 percent were entering to work.
The number of marriage immigrants increased by 2.6 percent to 148,498.
In 2012, 87.2 percent of the foreign entrants visited the country for tourism, up 19.5 percent from the previous year.
“We believe hallyu, or the Korean wave, especially in Asian countries, has attracted more Asian tourists,” the ministry said through a statement.
“The eased visa issuance procedures for Chinese and their demand for overseas tours may have contributed to the increase in the number of Chinese tourists in Korea.”
They made up the majority of the foreign visitors to Korea at 48.3 percent. Chinese dominated the list for the number of registered foreigners at 52 percent and for the number of foreign students at 68.2 percent.
Japanese visitors accounted for 34.6 percent of the foreign entrants.