No. of S. Korean students in US shrinks amid COVID-19 pandemic

Published : Nov 17, 2020 - 13:50 Updated : Nov 17, 2020 - 13:50

Foreign students wearing the traditional Korean costume, or "hanbok," fly kites at a university in Daegu on Sept. 25, 2020, as part of events to experience the Korean culture, ahead of the Oct. 1 Chuseok holiday, one of the country's biggest traditional holidays. (Yonhap)

WASHINGTON -- The number of South Korean students in the United States dropped from a year earlier this year, a US report showed Monday, amid the coronavirus pandemic that has led to a plunge in number of travelers between the two countries.

However, the number of US students in South Korea has jumped sharply over the same period, according to the report from the US State Department.

In the 2019-2020 school year, the number of South Korean students enrolled in US schools came to 40,809, down 4.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the report, jointly published by the US Institute of International Education.

The number still marks the third-largest after those from China and India at 372,532 and 193,124, respectively.

The IIE did not offer reasons for the drop, only noting the overall number of foreign students in the US slipped 1.8 percent to about 1.07 million.

“Despite a slight decline (1.8 percent) in the number of international students in the United States during the 2019/2020 academic year, this group still represents 5.5 percent of all students in US higher education,” it said in a press release.

The number of Americans students in South Korea, on the other hand, jumped 16 percent over the cited period to 4,558, making South Korea the 16th largest destination for American students going abroad for higher education.

The 16-percent hike also marks the sharpest increase for any of the top 25 destination countries for US students, according to the report. (Yonhap)