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Foreign Students in South Korea Surpass 500,000 for First Time

morning · · thread: South Korea's Culture Ministry Sets Goal of 40 Million Annual Foreign Visitors

3 sources across 2 countries · South Korea · Japan · 1 of them is linked to a state

Who reported this

  • Yonhap South Korea · Centre · State-affiliated · Cooperative; statutory national agency with state subsidy
  • The Korea Herald South Korea · Centre-right · Herald Corporation (Yeongpoong Group)
  • Kyodo News Japan · Centre · Non-profit publisher cooperative

What the colours mean

  • Left
  • Centre-left
  • Centre
  • Centre-right
  • Right
  • A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.

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The number of foreigners arriving in South Korea for study or training purposes exceeded 500,000 for the first time last year. According to data from the Korea Tourism Organization released by Rep. Jin Sun-mee of the ruling Democratic Party, 505,410 individuals entered for these purposes out of a total of 18.94 million foreign visitors. This figure represents a more than sixfold increase over four years, rising from 80,084 in 2021, 152,195 in 2022, 313,980 in 2023, and 435,129 in 2024.

Study and training arrivals accounted for 2.7 percent of all visitors last year. In comparison, tourism made up more than 83 percent of arrivals with 15.82 million visitors, while business and official duties accounted for 0.8 percent and 0.4 percent respectively.

Rep. Jin, a member of the parliamentary committee on culture and tourism, attributed the growth to the global popularity of Korean cultural products such as K-pop and dramas. She stated that the spread of K-content is resulting in long-term stays through formal degree programs and language study. Jin has called for tailored policy support to assist these students and trainees in adapting to local communities to maintain this momentum.

How each side framed it

Centre
The event was framed as a factual report on the growth of foreign student numbers driven by cultural exports.
Centre-right
The event was framed as a factual report on the growth of foreign student numbers driven by cultural exports.

Sources

100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.