The number of people entering and leaving Korea last year hit an all-time high of nearly 40 million.

The Justice Ministry said 39.8 million people entered or left the country last year, up 11 percent from 2006.

The number of outbound Koreans jumped 15.1 percent to 13.6 million, while that of inbound foreigners grew a mere three percent to 6.42 million.

China was the most popular tourist destination for Koreans, followed by Japan and Thailand. Last year, 3.5 million Koreans visited China.

Japanese accounted for an overwhelming 40 percent of foreign visitors to Korea last year, with 2.21 million. Other frequent visitors to Korea were the Chinese, American and Taiwanese.

The number of foreign residents in Korea also increased 17.2 percent last year to 1.06 million.