American Brad Henley, 47, recalls how he was gawked at on the street when he first arrived in Seoul two decades ago.

"Caucasians were a novelty then," said the English language teacher, a long-time resident. "Now no one gives me a second glance."

In 1985, there were only 29,000 foreigners in South Korea. Today, there are over a million, according to official statistics.

And where once there were stares, today the government itself is looking at ways to attract talented and well-educated foreigners to move here.

The weagookin - which means 'foreigner' here - hail from over 40 countries and form almost 2 per cent of the total population of 49 million.

Chinese account for almost half, followed by Americans, Vietnamese, Filipinos, Thais, Central Asians and Africans.

As South Korea opened up rapidly to the world from the late 1980s, foreigners began arriving in search of job opportunities as everything from restaurant cleaners to investment bankers. Their numbers rose sharply through the 1990s when the Korean economy was booming.

Almost two-thirds of all foreigners are based in Seoul, the country's business nerve centre and home to local conglomerates such as Samsung, Hyundai and LG.

Foreign spouses of Koreans make up another large group of about 200,000. Their children can take up the citizenship of either parent.

Two in three of these international marriages are between Korean men and foreign women, mainly from China, Viet Nam, the Philippines and Thailand.

"Most of these men come from rural areas and are poorly educated farmers in their 30s and 40s shunned by local girls," said Kim In Tae, a marriage broker who helps to arrange these unions for as little as five million won (US$5,400).

One in every four men in rural areas is married to a foreign woman.

The rest of the international marriages are between Korean women and foreign men.

Most of the foreign grooms are from developed countries, with Japanese men leading the pack, followed by those from the United States and Canada.

"We have plenty of choices for spouses given the abundance of Korean and foreign men," said lawyer Park Hyun Ju, 32, who married her American colleague last year.

The government helps foreign spouses by giving them a special family visa for the first two years. After that, they can apply for permanent residence or citizenship.

The influx of foreigners has spawned a number of ethnic enclaves in Seoul.

At Dongdaemun market, a tourist favourite, there is a self-styled Central Asian Village with signboards of restaurants, cafes and shops written in Russian.

Every weekend, the area draws people from Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, who come together to eat, drink and catch up on news from home.

At Itaewon, a popular expatriate haunt, there is an unofficial 'Nigerian Street' where scores of Nigerian workers hang out regularly.

There is also an unofficial French Village, Little Tokyo and Chinatown tucked in various corners of Seoul.

There are shops selling everything from Thai tomyam paste to Chinese egg noodles and Indian spices, and restaurants dishing out Egyptian kebabs, Singapore kaya toast and Japanese sushi.

In what has long been a homogeneous society, Koreans continue to have mixed feelings towards outsiders.

Some hostility is evident in occasional reports of a family disowning a daughter for marrying a foreigner and deleting her name from the family register.

Seven in 10 migrant women, either single or married, experience social discrimination, according to a recent survey of 270 respondents by the state-run Rural Resources Development Institute.

Among other things, unskilled migrant women receive less pay than Koreans for doing the same work as dishwashers, factory hands or road sweepers.

Provincial and county governments help the foreign wives by running Korean language and cooking classes for them.

Many religious groups provide free medical help to poor migrants, while some non-governmental organisations offer free legal aid to victims of discrimination and injustices.

They deal with complaints such as late payment of wages, being sacked for no good reason, or not receiving compensation for injuries suffered at the workplace.

Last month, the government formed a high-level panel to come up with policies to attract talented foreigners.

Among other things, it has agreed on the need for a work visa to allow foreigners with experience in global companies or those who are graduates of top universities to enter the country and look for a job.

Previously, foreigners had to secure a job before they could get a work visa to come in.

The panel is also exploring the idea of allowing dual citizenship for Koreans and foreigners, subject to certain criteria.

The policy deliberations come as South Korea grapples with the twin issues of a birth rate of just 1.13 - the lowest in the world - and a fast-ageing population.

Seoul expects the number of foreigners to continue rising, and estimates the total will hit the 3.6 million mark by 2030.

"Our basic direction in drafting policies on foreigners is to be open and integrate them into our society," said Korea Immigration Service commissioner Choo Kyu Ho. (By LEE TEE JONG/ The Straits Times/ ANN)