Chinese-Koreans residing in South Korea think their living standards here are better than they were in China, a local poll showed Sunday.

The findings by the IOM Migration Research and Training Center revealed that of the 2,017 people checked from July to October,52.9 percent said life in South Korea is better than in China. The people checked covers Chinese nationals who are ethnically Korean.

The survey also showed that 27 percent of ethnic Koreans with ties to China said there was no particular difference in living standards between the two countries, while 20.1 percent said life in China was actually better.

The latest report showed 26.6 percent of Chinese-Koreans were engaged in sales and service sector jobs, with those holding daily positions accounting for 23.7 percent of the total. Of the Chinese-Koreans in the country, 8 percent were students, 7.5 percent were office workers or held technical posts at work, and 5.9 percent were self-employed.

The training center's poll then revealed that 28.9 percent of the respondents said they had no trouble getting used to life in South Korea, with 18.8 percent professing some trouble in adopting to the different environment and culture. Of those checked, 14.4 percent said they had difficulty finding work here and 11.6 percent said there were some language issues.

The center said that South Korea needs to take steps to improve the legal status of Chinese-Koreans and do more to help their children improve their Korean language skills. (Yonhap)