SEOUL: One out of five foreigners in South Korea could be an illegal alien as the count of undocumented foreigners has neared 400,000, the highest in two years.
The number of foreigners staying illegally in South Korea has risen steadily from 388,000 last December to 394,000 in May, with monthly average additions of 1,000 this year, immigration data of the Justice Ministry showed on Thursday, according to Pulse.
The ratio of undocumented foreigners out of all foreigners staying in South Korea rose from 15.5% in 2019 to 19.3% in 2020. It hit 20% in January this year and has stayed in the 19% range throughout the year.
Foreign nationals residing in South Korea totalled 2,081,350 as of July.
Many migrant workers are suspected to have stayed in South Korea after their visas expired. Of the illegal aliens, 34.3% have not returned to their home countries after their 90-day visas expired. The number of foreigners residing without a permit for a lengthy period was estimated at 135,000 as of July, up 12.8%.
Recently some Thai group tourists went missing after they entered the resort island of Jeju visa-free. Some other Thai travellers were denied entry by Korean authorities on Jeju who suspected they may be intending to stay in the country illegally to work.