Image: Visualization of the proportion of non-ethnic Koreans living in each administrative district of South Korea. Credit: So.Prize.
Although South Korea has the reputation of being a homogenous country, immigration to South Korea has been steadily increasing - albeit not in a way that is easily visible to urbanites in Seoul. According to a study published on So.Prize 쏘프라이즈, approximately 5% of all South Korean residents are not from Korea.
Breakdown by administrative district shows that the immigrants to Korea are concentrated in the industrial outskirts of Seoul and rural areas where farm hand help is needed. Danwon-gu District of Ansan, Gyeonggi-do Province 경기도 안산 단원구, an industrial complex, has the highest proportion of non-Korean born residents of 19.2%. Eumseong-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do Province 충청북도 음성군 was the second highest at 14.95%, with many immigrant farm workers.
