Record growth in overseas study spending in December

SEOUL, Feb. 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's spending on overseas study saw record
growth in December as the local currency gained against the U.S. dollar, central
bank data showed Monday.

Koreans spent a total of US$420 million in December on overseas education, up
150.4 percent from the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). It
was the fastest on-month growth since January 1993 when the BOK began to compile
related data, it added.
Many parents here spend large sums of money to send their children abroad due to
fierce competition for higher education and a zeal for English study. But
so-called "goose fathers," men who stay in Korea to support families overseas,
are reeling from an increasing financial burden due to the won's depreciation.
The local currency fell 25.7 percent against the greenback last year. But in
December alone the won gained 16.6 percent per the dollar, mainly because of a
reported intervention by foreign exchange authorities to boost the won's year-end
value.
Meanwhile, for all of 2008, Koreans spent a total of $4.48 billion on overseas
study, down from $5.03 billion in 2007, the BOK added. It was the first such
decline since 1998, when spending dipped 28.3 percent on-year in the wake of the
Asian financial crisis.
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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