South Korea is not a nation of immigrants. And would-be emigrants who wish to work and live outside their home countries hardly rush to settle in Korea.

This week, Statistics Korea announced that the number of immigrants, including naturalized citizens, residing in the country fell by 2% in 2022 from the previous year. Korea’s population is approximately 52 million and immigrants make up less than 2.6% of it, accounting for about 1.35 million.

The COVID-19 pandemic has proved to be a setback for increasing the country’s immigrant population. In 2021, the migration rate, including Koreans, fell to an overall