Solutions for South Korea's Population Decline? CNN Mentions 'Foreign Digital Nomads'

Professor Seo Jeong-ho: "It Can Be a Way to Increase the Labor Population"

U.S. CNN introduced the claim that South Korea's pilot introduction of the 'Digital Nomad' visa could be a clue to solving the population decline crisis. Digital nomads refer to those who work remotely while moving around without being tied to a specific location.

On the 22nd (local time), the media reported, "Some Korean experts believe that this visa could be more than just making travel easier," adding, "It could be a way to increase the labor force in this country, which has recorded an extremely low birth rate."

According to a CNN interview, Seo Jeong-ho, a professor at the Korean Studies and Business Research Institute at George Washington University in the U.S., said, "The introduction of the Digital Nomad visa may be a stepping stone to smoothly landing a bigger plan to attract more foreigners to visit Korea."

As of last year, South Korea recorded a total fertility rate (the expected number of children a woman will have in her lifetime) of 0.78, the lowest in the world. It is expected to drop to 0.65 next year.

In this situation, Professor Seo predicted that the Digital Nomad visa would serve as a catalyst to increase the number of foreign residents, which is relatively low compared to other parts of Asia. He said, "Perhaps the government intends to lead agendas or discussions for normalizing social mixing between ethnic groups or between Koreans and non-Koreans through this new visa policy."

Cho Jeong-hyun, CEO of Hoppers, who runs the community 'Digital Nomad Korea' for foreigners working remotely and staying long-term in Korea, revealed that 83.6% of the 1,300 members surveyed showed interest in the Digital Nomad visa.

However, some foreigners who applied for the Digital Nomad visa pointed out that the qualification requirements might be set too high. To obtain the Korean Digital Nomad visa, foreigners must be affiliated with an overseas company and have an income at least twice the previous year's per capita Gross National Income (GNI) of Korea. They must also meet requirements such as subscribing to personal medical insurance with repatriation coverage of over 100 million KRW.

CNN also reported that according to an annual analysis conducted by 'InterNations,' an internet portal used by foreigners living in other countries, South Korea ranked 50th out of 53 countries in terms of settlement difficulty, placing it near the bottom.

Meanwhile, the remote worker trend analysis website 'Digital Nomad World' estimated that foreigners living and working in Seoul typically spend about $2,050 (approximately 2.7 million KRW) per month on living expenses. The site highly rated Korea in terms of nightlife and youth culture but gave low scores for LGBTQ+ acceptance and the level of communication possible in English, CNN reported.