Koreans in the Philippines, largely consisting of expatriates from South Korea, form the largest Korean diaspora community in Southeast Asia and the ninth-largest in the world, after Koreans in Kazakhstan and before Koreans in Vietnam. As of 2011, statistics of South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade recorded their population at 96,632 people; by 2007, the Commission on Filipinos Overseas estimated that the number of Filipinos in South Korea had grown by more than 70% to 70,000 [A group of 25 North Korean refugees used the Philippines as a transit point in 2002. According to a U.S. diplomatic cable leaked by WikiLeaks, the number would grow to more than 500 annually by 2005; the Philippine government continued to cooperate quietly with the South Korean government to permit transit of refugees, but reacted coolly to suggestions of admitting North Korean refugees for settlement]
