As rural aging and population decline intensify across South Korea, foreign seasonal workers are surging in farming communities such as Bonghwa-gun and Yeongyang-gun in North Gyeongsang Province. The foreign seasonal worker program allows the agricultural and fisheries sectors to legally hire foreign workers during peak periods such as planting and harvest seasons.
According to Bonghwa-gun county on Tuesday, the number of foreign seasonal workers reached 918 last year. From just 13 in 2018, the first year of the program's introduction, the figure has risen sharply — to 146 in 2022, 557 in 2023, 692 in 2024, and 918 last year.
This year, 1,133 workers are expected to arrive in the first half alone. That represents a nearly 90-fold increase from 2018 over a span of nine years.
The number of farms hiring these workers has also grown steadily, from four households in 2018 to 49 in 2022, 108 in 2023, 153 in 2024, and 204 last year.
The situation is similar in Yeongyang-gun, where the aging rate exceeds 40%. Foreign seasonal workers numbered 71 in 2017, the program's first year there, then surged to 285 in 2022, 659 in 2023, and 864 in 2024. Last year, the figure topped 1,000 for the first time, reaching 1,007. This year, the number is expected to hit 1,161 — more than 16 times the first-year figure. The number of farms employing these workers also jumped more than 15-fold over 10 years, from 30 households in 2017 to 468 this year.
The reason for the surge is simple: rural populations are shrinking, leaving fewer people to farm. Most remaining residents are elderly and unable to perform agricultural labor, a problem expected to worsen each year. "Without foreign seasonal workers, farming would be impossible," local residents say.
Will the Farming Population Drop Below 2 Million?
The farming population has been declining steadily due to young people migrating to cities, falling rural birth rates, and aging. According to the 2024 Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Census released by the National Data Center last year, the farming population stood at 2.004 million in 2024, down 85,000 (4.1%) from the previous year.
While the farming population barely held the 2 million line in 2024, some forecasts suggest it could shrink into the 1 million range for the first time this year. The Korea Rural Economic Institute recently projected the farming population would fall to 1.945 million this year, a further decline of 37,000 (1.9%) from last year.
The institute estimated that the share of the farming population aged 65 and over rose to 56.0% last year, up 0.2 percentage points from the prior year. That ratio is expected to climb to 56.6% this year. Considering that those aged 65 and over account for 21.2% of South Korea's total registered population, the aging crisis in farming communities is far more severe.
"Changes in the rural population offer a preview of what South Korea will look like in 10 years. This demands serious policy attention," said Kim Yong-ryeol, head of the Agricultural Outlook Center at the Korea Rural Economic Institute.