At A Elementary School in South Chungcheong Province, about 90% (213) of the 239 enrolled students are multicultural. As "foreign-national ethnic Koreans" from Uzbekistan, Russia, Kazakhstan and other countries flowed into nearby industrial complexes, enrollment of their children surged. The share of children of foreign-national ethnic Koreans was "8 out of 10" last year, but rose to "9 out of 10" in just one year.
A teacher at the school said, "Students mainly speak Russian and understand little Korean, making it hard to keep up with the curriculum," and added, "Since a new elementary school opened nearby, Korean students have been steadily transferring."
According to the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade (KIET) report "Regional changes and implications from immigrant inflows" on the 18th, from 2016 to 2023, when the share of foreign-national ethnic Koreans rose by 1 percentage point (p) relative to the local population, the Korean population recorded a net outflow of more than 4 p. The tendency to move to other regions for children's education became clearer as children advanced in grade. A teacher said, "When the number of students who cannot speak Korean increases, many Korean parents worry about their children's friendships and academics."
KIET's survey also found that commercial districts change rapidly in areas where foreign-national ethnic Koreans move in. Hambak Village in Yeonsu District, Incheon, is a concentrated area of Koryoin near the Namdong Industrial Complex. From 2020 to 2024, the foreign population of Yeonsu 1-dong, where Hambak Village is located, grew by an annual average of 12.2%, while the Korean population fell by 4.6%. In the process, daily infrastructure and commercial areas were reorganized around foreign-national ethnic Koreans. A merchant said, "Seventy percent of the stores are filled with restaurants and other businesses tailored to the demand of foreign-national ethnic Koreans."
On this, Nam Bu-hyeon, a professor in the Department of Multicultural Education at Sun Moon University, said, "There are not a few cases of local conflict stemming from the increase in foreign-national ethnic Koreans," and noted, "Policy design needs to consider both education and changes in commercial districts."
There are also calls for tailored responses such as expanding public education investment and revitalizing commercial districts in areas with large inflows of foreign-national ethnic Koreans. Seo Seong-min, an associate research fellow at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade (KIET), said, "We need measures such as increasing investment in public education and devising plans to revitalize commercial districts," adding, "We also need to prepare ways to prevent the outflow of Korean residents through customized support by generation within the affected regions."