Foreigners through eyes of media: Does coverage lead to prejudice?

Crimes committed by foreigners account for only a small share of offenses in South Korea. But news coverage and public debate often make them appear far more common than the numbers suggest.

As of 2024, the number of “foreign residents” — defined by the Interior Ministry as foreign nationals staying in Korea for more than 90 days, naturalized citizens and their children — surpassed 2.58 million, the highest figure on record. They now make up roughly 5 percent of the population.

Despite this demographic shift, negative perceptions of foreigners continue to surface.

In October 2025, President Lee Jae Myung warned against rumors targeting people of a specific nationality, saying such rhetoric harms the country’s national interest and global image.

Official statistics, however, suggest that the crime rate among foreign residents remains relatively low. National Police Agency data shows that 35,296 foreign residents were apprehended for crimes in 2024, accounting for about 2 percent of the total for that year.

The proportion has remained broadly stable for years. Between 2012 and 2021, crimes the ratio varied between 1.3 percent and 2.4 percent, yet the perception of rising “foreign crime” persists.

Sociologists said one reason may be that many Koreans have limited direct interaction with foreign residents.

Although foreigners now live across much of the country, their presence remains uneven. A 2025 study by the Migration Research and Training Center found that 127 cities, counties and districts — about 55 percent of local administrative areas -- had at least 5 percent foreign residents in 2023, qualifying them as areas with a concentrated foreign population. While that number has grown rapidly from 97 areas in 2022, nearly half of the country still has relatively small foreign populations.

Foreign workers are also concentrated in a narrow set of industries. According to December data from Statistics Korea, 44.9 percent of foreign workers are employed in manufacturing.

For many Koreans who do not work in those sectors, opportunities for everyday interaction with foreign residents remains limited. In such cases, perceptions about foreigners are often shaped less by personal experience than by media coverage.

Several studies suggested that crimes involving foreigners receive disproportionate attention in the news.

In a 2016 study titled “How Crime News Coverage Shapes Perceptions of Foreign Criminality in South Korea,” researchers from Seoul National University analyzed 76,444 news articles alongside crime statistics from the National Police Agency and surveys of 383 Koreans.

At the time, foreigners were responsible for about 0.9 percent of all crimes. Yet stories involving foreign suspects made up 7.7 percent of crime-related news coverage. While roughly 3 percent of crimes committed by Koreans were reported in the media, about 26 percent of crimes involving foreigners were covered.

The study found that Koreans tended to overestimate the frequency of crimes committed by foreign nationals, particularly in violent offenses such as murder or sexual assault.

“The tendency of the Korean media can work as a major factor in creating locals’ stereotypes toward immigrants and reinforcing closed attitudes toward them,” the researchers wrote.

A separate study published in 2023 also found that crimes involving foreign nationals were reported more frequently than comparable crimes involving Korean suspects.

The research, which analyzed nearly 20,000 violent crime reports from 18 media outlets between 2000 and 2020, showed that local newspapers were particularly likely to frame foreign crimes negatively.

Interestingly, coverage involving foreign suspects was not always harsher in tone. Some reports adopted a more sympathetic framing than those involving Korean offenders.

But researchers said even sympathetic coverage can reinforce stereotypes.

A study published in the Korean Journal of Broadcasting and Telecommunication Studies found that portrayals of immigrants as struggling or in need of help may still contribute to negative perceptions.

While such stories appear compassionate, they can portray immigrants as socially inferior or lacking competence.

According to the study, narratives depicting immigrants either as threats or as objects of pity can both reinforce social distance rather than promote integration.

“Results show a possibility that sympathetic news coverage can induce contempt toward foreigners and immigrants, infringing upon social integration,” the study concluded.