With COVID-19 steadily turning to an endemic phase, the number of foreign nationals staying in South Korea recovered to over 2 million in May.
The Ministry of Justice said on Thursday that this is the first time in 15 months that the figure has surpassed 2 million.
The number of short-term foreign residents -- those who stay in Korea for less than 90 days -- stood at around 420 thousand up 1.8 percent from the month of April.
Those on long-term visas increased 1.2 percent to over 1.5 million.
The number of foreigners living in the country had seen a continuous rise since 2016 due to soaring travel demand and influx of foreign workers, but began to drop from January 2020 with the outbreak of COVID-19.
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