The number of foreign workers in South Korea surpassed one million for the first time this year.

According to data released by Statistics Korea on Tuesday, the number of foreign residents in the country aged 15 and over stood at one-point-561 million as of May 2024, an increase of 130-thousand from a year earlier.

Among them, one-point-zero-one million were employed, an increase of 87-thousand from the previous year.

The number of foreign workers is increasing due to the expansion of employment visa quotas.

About half of the foreign workers are in the mining and manufacturing industries, with Chinese workers accounting for the largest group by nationality at 341-thousand.