KUALA LUMPUR - A primary school in South Chungcheong Province is seeing a rapid rise in students from multicultural backgrounds.

At A Elementary School, about 90 per cent, or 213 out of 239 students, are from multicultural families.

The increase follows an influx of foreign-national ethnic Koreans from countries such as Uzbekistan, Russia and Kazakhstan into nearby industrial areas.

The proportion of such students rose from eight in 10 last year to nine in 10 within a year, as reported by Chosun Biz.

“Students mainly speak Russian and understand little Korean, making it hard to keep up with the curriculum.

The teacher added, “Since a new elementary school opened nearby, Korean students have been steadily transferring,” a teacher said.

A report by the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade (KIET) highlighted broader demographic shifts linked to migrant inflows.

The report, titled “Regional changes and implications from immigrant inflows,” was released on March 18.

It found that between 2016 and 2023, a one percentage point increase in the share of foreign-national ethnic Koreans corresponded with a net outflow of more than four percentage points among Korean residents.

The trend of relocating for children’s education became more pronounced as students progressed to higher grades.

“When the number of students who cannot speak Korean increases, many Korean parents worry about their children’s friendships and academics,” the teacher added.

The KIET survey also found that commercial districts are rapidly transforming in areas with high concentrations of foreign-national ethnic Koreans.

Hambak Village in Yeonsu District, Incheon, has emerged as a key settlement area near the Namdong Industrial Complex.

From 2020 to 2024, the foreign population in Yeonsu 1-dong grew by an average of 12.2 per cent annually.

During the same period, the Korean population declined by 4.6 per cent.

As a result, local infrastructure and businesses have increasingly adapted to the needs of foreign-national ethnic Koreans.

“Seventy percent of the stores are filled with restaurants and other businesses tailored to the demand of foreign-national ethnic Koreans,” a merchant said.

Nam Bu-hyeon, a professor of multicultural education at Sun Moon University, said social tensions have emerged in some areas.

“There are not a few cases of local conflict stemming from the increase in foreign-national ethnic Koreans.

“Policy design needs to consider both education and changes in commercial districts,” he said.

Experts have called for targeted policy responses to address the impact of demographic shifts.

Seo Seong-min, an associate research fellow at KIET, said greater investment in public education is needed.

“We need measures such as increasing investment in public education and devising plans to revitalize commercial districts.

“We also need to prepare ways to prevent the outflow of Korean residents through customized support by generation within the affected regions,” he said.