{
  "id": 6497538,
  "title": "International students in Korea top 500,000 for 1st time on Korean cultural boom",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/09/international-students-in-korea-top-500-000-for-1st-time-on-korean",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-09T23:42:03.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Korea Times",
    "slug": "the-korea-times-koreatimes",
    "url": "https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/20260910/international-students-in-korea-top-500000-for-1st-time-on-korean-cultural-boom"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Last year, the number of international students studying in Korea reached an all-time high of 505,410, marking a staggering sixfold increase over the past four years, according to data released by the Korea Tourism Organization. This figure represents 2.7 percent of all foreign visitors to the country, totaling 18.94 million. The surge in student arrivals follows a sharp rebound from 80,084 in 2021, when the nation was grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, and a steady annual growth rate to 152,195 in 2022, 313,980 in 2023, and 435,129 in 2024. In 2025, the number of students even exceeded 500,000 for the first time, with over 83 percent of the total 15.82 million visitors visiting for tourism purposes. Business and official duties accounted for a mere 0.8 percent and 0.4 percent of the visits, respectively. Jin Sun-mee, a member of the parliamentary committee on culture and tourism and a member of the ruling Democratic Party, attributed the significant increase to the growing global interest in Korean culture.",
  "summary": "The number of foreigners coming to study in Korea surpassed 500,000 for the first time last year, a more than sixfold increase over four years, driven by the global popularity of Korean pop culture, government data showed Thursday. Some 505,410 of the 18.94 million foreign visitors to Korea last year entered for \"study or training\" purposes, accounting for 2.7 percent of all arrivals, according…",
  "key_points": [
    "International students in Korea surpassed 500,000 for the first time in 2025.",
    "Number of international students increased sixfold over four years.",
    "Growing global interest in Korean culture attributed to the surge."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 3,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Yonhap News",
        "title": "Foreign students in S. Korea top 500,000 for 1st time on Korean cultural boom",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/09/foreign-students-in-s-korea-top-500-000-for-1st-time-on-korean",
        "published": "2026-09-09T23:26:58.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "The Korea Times",
        "title": "49 foreign envoys in Korea avoid prosecution under diplomatic immunity: data",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/10/49-foreign-envoys-in-korea-avoid-prosecution-under-diplomatic",
        "published": "2026-09-10T00:12:03.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}