South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

has one of the largest

Pakistani diaspora Overseas Pakistanis ( ur, ), or the Pakistani diaspora, refers to Pakistani people who live outside of Pakistan. These include citizens that have migrated to another country as well as people born abroad of Pakistani descent. According to th ...

community in Asia, numbering 7,000 according to 2004/05 Pakistani government figures, or 10,423 according to 2013 South Korean government figures. South Korea also remains a popular education destination for many Pakistanis. Apart from hundreds of self-funded Pakistani students studying in South Korean universities, Pakistan Higher Education Commission has also been sending hundreds of Pakistani students to study for MS and PhD degrees in South Korea. There were 1,420 Pakistanis who have married

Korean women Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

between 2001-2010 and settled permanently in South Korea. Pakistanis make a large representation of South Korea's

Muslim community ' (; ar, أمة ) is an Arabic word meaning "community". It is distinguished from ' ( ), which means a nation with common ancestry or geography. Thus, it can be said to be a supra-national community with a common history. It is a synonym for ' ...

Pakistani students in South Korea

The Pakistani students studying in South Korean universities are predominantly students of MS and PhD in the fields of science and engineering. Students are the most vibrant segment of Pakistani society in South Korea. They regularly come up with cultural events and activities. The surge of Pakistani students to South Korea started in 2007 with the induction of large number of HEC scholars in Korean Universities. Since then, Pakistani students have found different kinds of fundings in South Korea. In 2017, the number of Pakistani students in South Korea was estimated to be between 800 and 1500. The universities with largest number of Pakistani students are

Sungkyunkwan University Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU or simply ''Seongdae'', Hangul: 성균관대학교; Hanja: 成均館大學校) is a private comprehensive research university in South Korea. The institution traces its origins to the historic Sungkyunkwan, found ...

(nearly 170 students),

Hanyang University Hanyang University (Korean: 한양대학교) is a private research university in South Korea. The main campus is located in Seoul and its satellite campus, the Education Research Industry Cluster (ERICA campus), is in Ansan. ''Hanyang'' (한양 ...

(nearly 100 students),

KAIST The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) is a national research university located in Daedeok Innopolis, Daejeon, South Korea. KAIST was established by the Korean government in 1971 as the nation's first public, resear ...

(nearly 70 students) and UST. Other major universities hosting Pakistani students are

Sejong University Sejong University (SJU; ) is a private university located in Seoul, South Korea known for its standing in hospitality and tourism management, dancing, animation and rhythmic gymnastics. Founded as the Kyung Sung Humanities Institute, it was rename ...

, Kyunghee University,

GIST In computing, GiST or Generalized Search Tree, is a data structure and API that can be used to build a variety of disk-based search trees. GiST is a generalization of the B+ tree, providing a concurrent and recoverable height-balanced search tr ...

, Seoul National University, Chungang University, Ajou University,

Yonsei University Yonsei University (; ) is a private research university in Seoul, South Korea. As a member of the " SKY" universities, Yonsei University is deemed one of the three most prestigious institutions in the country. It is particularly respected in th ...

Kyungpook National University Kyungpook National University (경북대학교, abbreviated as KNU or Kyungdae, 경대) is one of ten Flagship Korean National Universities representing Daegu Metropolitan City and Gyeongbuk Province in South Korea. It is located in the Dae ...

SUNY Korea Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public research university in Stony Brook, New York. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is one of the State University of New York system' ...

, and

Pusan National University Pusan National University (PNU), also called Busan National University, is one of ten Flagship Korean National Universities in South Korea and second highest public universities in South Korea. Located mainly in Busan (or Pusan), the universi ...

. Pakistani students generally remain in touch through Facebook groups.

Notable people

In fiction

Anupam Tripathi Anupam Tripathi ( ko, 아누팜 트리파티, Anupam Teuripati; born 2 November 1988) is an Indian actor based in South Korea. He has appeared in various South Korean television series and films. His first main role as Ali Abdul in Netflix's So ...

, an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

actor, a main cast member in the 2021 survival drama show ''

Squid Game ''Squid Game'' () is a South Korean survival drama television series created by Hwang Dong-hyuk for Netflix. Its cast includes Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-soo, Wi Ha-joon, HoYeon Jung, O Yeong-su, Heo Sung-tae, Anupam Tripathi, and Kim Joo-r ...

'' portrayed Abdul Ali, a Pakistani immigrant living in South Korea. * Christian Lagahit, a

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

actor, a minor cast member in ''Squid Game'' also portrayed a Pakistani in South Korea.

References

{{Immigrants and expatriates in Korea

Demographics of South Korea Pakistan–South Korea relations

Pakistani students in South Korea

Notable people

In fiction

See also

References