KUALA LUMPUR - Cheonan in South Chungcheong Province, South Korea will establish a comprehensive support system to help foreign residents settle and achieve self-sufficiency, as their numbers continue to rise.

According to Yonhap News, the city said the foreign population stood at 49,117 as of last month, accounting for 5.8 per cent of its total population of 705,186.

By nationality, Chinese residents formed the largest group with 16,019 people, followed by 7,313 Vietnamese and 2,454 Uzbek nationals.

By location, the highest concentrations were recorded in Sinan-dong with 5,515 residents and Seonghwan-eup with 4,048.

The city will invest 3.6 billion won to implement its 2026 Foreign Residents and Multicultural Families Support Plan, which includes 23 major projects.

Under the plan, a new programme will be introduced this year to support multicultural children with borderline intelligence and slow learning development.

The initiative will provide customised education to help children with IQ levels between 70 and 85 adapt more effectively to school and society.

Administrative services will also be strengthened to address language barriers faced by foreign residents.

The city will expand its multilingual information leaflets from 14 to 16 languages and establish a Foreign Resident Public Relations Team.

The new team will gather feedback directly from foreign residents and reflect their views on municipal policies.

Cheonan will also continue organising exchange programmes such as the Cheonan Foreigners’ Festival for World Citizens’ Day and the Byeolbyeol World Culture Festival.

Psychological counselling, interpretation and translation services will be expanded through specialised support centres and facilities for migrant women who are victims of violence.

Park Kyung-mi, director of the Women and Family Affairs Division, said the city would provide effective support to help residents of different nationalities settle with pride.

“We will do our best to create a healthy local community where Koreans and foreigners can coexist and thrive,” she said.