40% of Foreigners in Korea Feel Discrimination

The survey, conducted by Korea Gallup for the Ministry of Justice, was meant to look into foreigners' life here and find out what needs to be changed to help upgrade their living standards.

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According to the survey, 42.7 percent of the investors and 43.1 percent of the professionals felt they had been discriminated against.

A total 32.5 percent of investors and 30.9 percent of professionals said Koreans had a hostile attitude toward foreigners.

In the survey, ``foreign investor'' referred to holders of D-8 visas who have invested at least 50 million won here ($38,160) and ``foreign professional'' referred to those holding E1-E8 visas. They include professors, teachers and researchers but exclude entertainers, artists and industrial trainees.

The discrimination they felt here made them reluctant to live in Korea.

Asked whether Korea is a better place to live than their homeland, 39 percent of investors and 42.3 percent of professionals said ``no.''

The language barrier was the No. 1 culprit for their difficulties in Korea, followed by the high cost of living, lack of multinational foods and discrimination.

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