SEOUL, March 28 (Yonhap) - The number of foreigners studying in South Korea for the first time exceeded the 100,000 mark, as a report showed Monday Immigration Service under the Ministry of Justice.
As of late February, the number of foreign students who remain in the country reached 105,193, reaching a record high and registering an increase of 10.6 percent in a month.
By country, China is the country of origin of most of the foreign students in South Korea, with 59.2 percent or 62,318, followed by Vietnam with 7.8 percent, Mongolia with 5 percent, Japan with 2.6 percent, Uzbekistan with 1.5 percent and Indonesia with 1.4 percent.
The number of foreign students in South Korea had shown a downward trend in the period 2011-2013, registering 88,468 in 2011, 84,711 in 2012 and 81,847 in 2013, and subsequently in 2015, shot up to 96,357.
This increase is attributed mainly to local universities have striven to attract foreign students in line with globalization and in Asia has emerged a great interest in Korean culture thanks to the Korean Wave or "Hallyu". The "hallyu" is the popularity of Korean pop culture, such as soap operas, pop music and movies, worldwide.
