Yonhap News has released the latest data on Korea’s foreign population. Up 2.6% from last year, the number of foreign residents in Korea has climbed to 1.45 million, or about 2.8% of the total population. You can read the entire article here. Most of the data in the article was not surprising. However, one sentence did catch my eye:
“The foreign residents here include those who stay for 90 days or longer, naturalized citizens and children whose mothers or fathers are non-Korean.”
I thought it odd the Ministry of Security and Public Administration would consider those having earned their citizenship or of mixed race to be foreigners. By definition, both would be considered legally Korean. To gain clarity, I called the Ministry of Security and Public Administration and spoke with Ko Hyung-woong about the Yonhap article.
Mr. Ko stated naturalized citizens and mixed-raced children were legally Korean, but the foreigner designation mentioned in the article was better interpreted as individuals of foreign origin. Data is used to assist the Korean government identify those with different backgrounds, to implement domestic policies, and help integrate those individuals into Korean society.
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