Firth, as of May 1st, 2006, the total number of foreigners who are currently living in Korea numbered 524,345. Among these foreigners, foreign labor workers numbered 251,729, or 48 percent of all foreign residents. Next, there are 90,489 (17.3％) immigrants who came to Korea as a result of international marriages. A total of 38,371 foreigners (7.3％) acquired Korean nationality. According to a survey conducted by the Autonomous Administration Team of the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs (May 2006), 57 percent of foreign residents are male. In the case of foreign workers, 67 percent of them are male, and in case of international marriage-related residents, 84.9 percent are female. Among foreign residents, persons with Chinese nationality account for 46.1 percent of all foreign residents in Korea, while persons with Southeast Asian nationalities account for 23 percent; this is followed by southern Asian (6.3％), American (4.8％), Taiwanese (4.0％), Japanese (3.6％), Mongolian (2.8％), Central Asian (2.4％), and Russian (0.7％). Joseonjok (ethnic Koreans with Chinese nationality) account for 31.7 percent of people with Chinese nationality residing in Korea. These ethnic Korean Chinese ('Joseonjok') account for 55 percent of the foreign resident group of people who acquired Korean nationality, and 41.2 percent of people who came to Korea as a result of an international marriage.

Among foreign workers, workers from Southeast Asia occupy 29.8 percent of the entire group, followed by 'Joseonjok'(28.7％), Chinese workers (14.2％), Southeast Asian workers (8.1％), and Mongolian workers (4.0％). As we can see, workers from Southeast Asian regions occupy the biggest portion. Among Southeast Asian workers, 67 percent of them are male. In the case of the ethnic Korean Chinese ('Joseonjok', 51.1 percent are female. The majority of foreigners who came to Korea as a result of international marriages are female and break down by nationality as follows: 'Joseonjok'(42.1), Chinese (20.7), Southeast Asians (18.3), Japanese (8.3), and Southern Asians (1.4). Among these, 55 percent of the ethnic Korean Chinese ('Joseonjok'), 24.7 percent of the Chinese, and 10.6 percent of the Southeast Asians acquired Korean nationality. The majority of international marriages were to people who held Chinese nationality, while foreigners of U.S., Japanese and Taiwanese nationality occupied only 12.4 percent of the entire group. 63.5 percent of foreigners are currently living in areas nearby the capital, such as Seoul, Gyeonggi-do and Incheon. Among those regions, Gyeonggi-do shows the highest concentration (32.2％), followed by Seoul (148,966, 24.8％), Incheon (33,960, 6.5％), Gyeongsangnam-do (28,261, 5.4％), and Gyeongsangbuk-do (24,568, 4.7％). 121,518 foreign workers, 48.3 percent of all foreign workers, currently live in the Gyeonggi area. Of those foreign workers, 40,025 (15.9％) live in Seoul, 17,822 (7.1％) live in Incheon, 15,968 (6.3％) in Gyeongsangnam-do, 10,456 (4.2％) in Gyeongsangbuk-do, and 10,020 (4.0％) in Chungcheongbuk-do. In the case of persons who came to Korea as a result of international marriages, 22,331 of them are living in Gyeonggi-do (24.7％), followed by 19,848 (21.9％) in Seoul, 6,869 (7.6％) in Jeollanam-do, 6,647 (7.3％) in Incheon, and 5,111 (5.6％) in Gyeongsangnam-do. Compared to the capital and adjacent areas, there is a greater concentration in areas where the agricultural population is relatively larger, such as Gangwon-do or Jeollanam-do.

If we examine foreigners living in cities, or gun and gu units, eight of those units show more than ten thousand foreign residents, 25 units show between five and ten thousand residents, and 88 units show between one thousand and five thousand foreign residents. 51 percent of all local units show more than one thousand foreigners living inside the unit, while 29 percent of the units record less than 500 foreigners living there. Areas with more than ten thousand foreigners include Ansan-si, Gyeonggi-do (20,559 people), Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi-do (14,970), Yongsan-gu, (14,803), Yeongdeungpo-gu (14,390), Guro-gu (13,499), in Seoul, Siheung-si (11,829), Suwon-si (11,479), and Seongnam-si (10,113) in Gyeonggi-do. Areas with less than one hundred foreigners include Gyeongsangbuk-do's Ulleung-gun (4), Gyeongsangbuk-do's Yeongyang-gun (56), Jeollanam-doÔs Sinan-gun (70), Gyeongsangnam-do's Hadong-gun (75), and Chungcheong nam-do's Gyeryong-si (93).

From the above figures, we can conclude that the status of Korea in the 21st century looks better than ever. Capital resources, human resources and physical materials are being exchanged between countries in a more active and faster fashion than ever before. As Korea's role in these transactions grows, so will its status. The Korean society is entering a multi-cultural era, and being continually exposed to new ways of living, including ones from foreign countries. In the process, 'their ways of living' and ‘their own culture’ have also become 'Korean ways of living' and also 'part of Korea's culture.' As a result, the cultural environment of the Korean community has changed. In order to elevate Korea's status within the world, it is important to make sure that the country has competitive power with a sound human resource infrastructure. In order to do this, it is imperative that Korea's status in terms of the versatile nature of world culture continues to evolve, and that Koreans have an open mind when interacting with other people. Korea is no longer a country of hermits, but should, in fact, continually share its rich culture and heritage with Asia, but the entire world. Indeed, Koreans are, not only part of the Asian community, but also part of the global village.