By Park Si-soo
South Korea has 2.18 million foreign residents, Ministry of Justice data showed on Thursday. This is 4.21 percent of the nation's population of 51.78 million as of December.
Chinese make up 46.7 percent, or 1.018 million, of the residents, followed by Vietnamese (169,738), Thais (153,259), Americans (143,568), Uzbeks (62,870) and Filipinos (58,480).
Nearly 72 percent of the population, or 1.583 million, are categorized as "long-term residents" who have stayed here for more than 90 days. And 65.2 percent of long-term residents live in Seoul or surrounding areas.
Meanwhile, the combined number of inbound and outbound travelers exceeded 80 million for the first time in 2017. It was up 0.5 percent from 79.98 million in 2017 and nearly a twofold increase from 42.98 million in 2010.
South Korean nationals made up more than half at 53.44 million, up 17.9 percent from 45.31 million in 2016. Foreign travelers shrunk to 26.96 million in 2017 from 34.67 million in 2016, which could be blamed on the THAAD missile defense system dispute with China, the biggest source of inbound travelers.
Despite the trouble, China remained the biggest contributor to inbound foreign travelers (4.39 million) in 2017, followed by Japan (2.33 million) and the United States (960,000).
South Korea has 2.18 million foreign residents, Ministry of Justice data showed on Thursday. This is 4.21 percent of the nation's population of 51.78 million as of December.
Chinese make up 46.7 percent, or 1.018 million, of the residents, followed by Vietnamese (169,738), Thais (153,259), Americans (143,568), Uzbeks (62,870) and Filipinos (58,480).
Nearly 72 percent of the population, or 1.583 million, are categorized as "long-term residents" who have stayed here for more than 90 days. And 65.2 percent of long-term residents live in Seoul or surrounding areas.
Meanwhile, the combined number of inbound and outbound travelers exceeded 80 million for the first time in 2017. It was up 0.5 percent from 79.98 million in 2017 and nearly a twofold increase from 42.98 million in 2010.
South Korean nationals made up more than half at 53.44 million, up 17.9 percent from 45.31 million in 2016. Foreign travelers shrunk to 26.96 million in 2017 from 34.67 million in 2016, which could be blamed on the THAAD missile defense system dispute with China, the biggest source of inbound travelers.
Despite the trouble, China remained the biggest contributor to inbound foreign travelers (4.39 million) in 2017, followed by Japan (2.33 million) and the United States (960,000).
