LOS ANGELES (Yonhap News) ― The number of illegal aliens from South Korea in the U.S. dropped for the second straight year in 2010, but the number still remained over 170,000, a report by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security released Friday showed.

The number of Korean illegal aliens in the U.S. dropped to some 200,000 in 2009 from 240,000 the previous year. The number then dropped 15 percent last year to 170,000, according to the report.

Such significant drops came even after South Korea was enrolled in the U.S.’ Visa Waiver Program in late 2008, which allows tourists from South Korea to enter the country without a visa and stay for up to 90 days on each visit.

The total number of illegal aliens in the U.S. slightly rose last year to about 10.79 million from 10.75 million in 2009, according to the report.

The number of illegal aliens from South Korea in the U.S. formed the ninth-largest group of illegal residents from a single country, with over 6.6 million illegal aliens from Mexico forming the largest group that accounted for 62 percent of all illegal residents in the U.S.