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By Kim Se-jeong
Foreign residents gave the highest score for Seoul's public transportation system and air quality, according to the city's recent survey.
Ethnically, the Chinese population showed the greatest satisfaction of life in Seoul.
They gave 76 points for the city's environment, including the above-mentioned two factors.
Safety came second in their satisfaction list with 74.4 points, followed by the social environment with 71.7 points and education with 69.7 points.
They cited difficulty in communication as the greatest challenge, giving it 61.7 points.
The Seoul Institute, which was responsible for the survey, said Sunday that the city averaged about 70 points out of the perfect 100.
The survey was conducted last October from a sample of 2,500 foreign residents in the capital city.
The survey also showed the Chinese were the most content ethnic group, giving their life quality in Seoul 73.4 points. Chinese, with ethnic Koreans included, are the largest foreign group in Seoul.
Japanese residents were the least satisfied group, giving only 56.7 points.
Korea-Japan relations have been rocky lately due to political differences, and the public sentiment toward each other is becoming more negative.
The survey result didn't elaborate on what appealed the most to the Chinese population and what appealed least to the Japanese.
Many respondents said Seoul is an expensive place to live also.
This opinion was particularly strong among Vietnamese and other Asians who answered that living expenses in the capital were at least 1.5 times more expensive compared to where they came from. Europeans and North American respondents said the living expenses in Seoul were either similar to their home cities or slightly cheaper.
The survey results came amid the city government's endeavor to raise Seoul's international profile. The city has been trying to improve the city's social and environmental infrastructure and increase services designed for foreign residents. The survey result showed what to improve further.
The population of foreign residents in Seoul was approximately 265,000 as of last year, accounting for almost 3 percent of the city's entire population. The Chinese population was the highest number, followed by Vietnamese, the Philippines, Japanese and Americans.
