Foreign residents in Korea total 1.16 million: report

SEOUL, Jan. 11 (Yonhap) -- The number of foreigners living in South Korea totaled
about 1.16 million as of the end of last year, up 8.7 percent from the previous
year, the Justice Ministry said Sunday.
Migrant manual workers accounted for 566,116, or 48.9 percent of the total, while
the number of immigrants married to Korean nationals was tallied at 122,552, or
10.6 percent, said the ministry.
It noted the number of foreign students staying here increased 27.7 percent
year-on-year to 71,531.
The ministry said the number of foreign residents with illegal status fell about
20,000 over the past year to around 200,500. As a result, the share of illegal
foreign residents in the total declined from 20.9 percent to 17.3 percent, it
explained.
Meanwhile, the number of South Koreans traveling abroad fell 9.6 percent to 12.32
million last year, amid the worsening economic difficulties, said the ministry.
By contrast, the number of foreign visitors here increased 6.2 percent to 6.82
million in 2008, it added.
(END)