According to the foreign resident data compiled by the Ministry of Interior, as of January 2015, foreigners residing in Korea numbered over 1.74 million. If foreign-born spouses of Korean nationals were included, the number would exceed two million. Foreign migration into Korea started in earnest in the 1990s. In its attempt to find a solution to the labor shortage problem, the Korean government introduced the industry trainee system in 1993 and began accepting foreign workers in the following year. Another factor that made multiculturalism possible in Korea was international marriages by rural men. Foreign spouses who migrated to Korea number around 300,000 so far. The government and civic groups provide various educational and support programs to help them settle successfully in their adopted country. National boundaries are coming down and people engage in more robust cultural exchanges all over the world. Koreans are now dreaming of a more culturally diverse country where people of all national origins can live in harmony.