hankyoreh

South Korea's expatriate population, including foreigners staying here illegally and for short-term periods, reached 1,000,254 as of Friday, breaking the 1 million mark for the first time, the Justice Ministry said.

The over-1 million expatriate population, which accounts for about 2 percent of South Korea's population of 49.13 million, represents the nation's rapid transformation into a multiracial and multicultural society, ministry officials said.

Compared with a decade ago, today's over-1 million expatriates is a rise of 158 percent.

But the number of illegal foreigners is estimated to have reached 220,000, raising the acute need for comprehensive government countermeasures, they said.

By nationality, Chinese people accounted for 44 percent, or 441,334, of the total, followed by Americans (117,938, or 12 percent), Vietnamese (64,464, or 6 percent), Filipinos (50,264, or 5 percent) and Thais (42,792, or 4 percent), according to ministry figures.

The five most populous communities accounted for 70 percent of the total expatriate population.

Expatriates with long-term stay permits numbered 724,967, including 404,051 industrial trainees, 104,749 marriage-based immigrants and 47,479 students. SEOUL, Aug. 24 (Yonhap News)