The number of foreign nationals aged 15 or older, who had resided here for at least 91 days, came in at 1.43 million in 2023, up 9.9 percent from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea.
It marked the highest since relevant data began to be compiled in 2017.
The number of Chinese nationals residing here grew 3.6 percent to 135,000 this year, while the figure for Vietnamese nationals jumped 19.1 percent to 201,000.
The number of those aged 15 or higher, who had been naturalized here for the past five years, declined 2.5 percent to 51,000 in 2023 compared to the previous year.
The number of foreign residents with jobs gained 9.5 percent over the year to reach a new high of 923,000 in 2023.
The number of jobs for the naturalized people added 0.6 percent to 34,000 this year.
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