Foreigners staying in S. Korea rebound to over 2 mln amid receding pandemic

According to the data by the justice ministry's immigration policy bureau, 2,012,862 foreigners were staying in the country as of May, the first figure over the 2 million threshold since February last year.

The May number marks a 1.3 percent rise, or 25,612, from the previous month.

Driven by the inflow of tourists and immigrant workers, the foreign population on short- and long-term stays here first hit the 2 million mark in June 2016 and grew further to a record high of 2.52 million in December 2019.

The number began to slide the following month due to the onset of COVID-19 and dropped below the 2 million mark in March last year.

Of the total foreign population as of May, some 424,000 were on short-term visa-free stays, which allows visitors to stay up to 90 days in Korea for travel or visitation purposes. The number was up 1.8 percent from a month ago.

Some 1.58 million others were on long-term stays, up 1.2 percent from a month ago.

«If this pace of recovery continues, the foreign population is expected to go back to the pre-pandemic level of 2.5 million around next year,» an immigration official noted.