The Bank of Korea said that Koreans spent more than $3 billion on overseas education from January to November in 2005.

The figure marks a nearly 37 percent increase from a year earlier and a nearly threefold rise from four years ago.

In contrast, foreign students’ expenditures in the country were estimated at $9 million, dropping more than 40 percent in the same period, the central bank said.

The Korean Educational Development Institute said in a report that the number of elementary, middle and high school students who left the country for study last year increased more than 60 percent from 10,498 recorded a year earlier.

"As learning English becomes the high priority in the nation, many parents have sent their children overseas to study it," said Kim Kwang-hyeoun, deputy director of overseas Korean education division at the Education Ministry.

The United States was the top destination for Koreans, attracting 5,355 students, an increase of 18 percent from a year earlier. Canada is next with 1,899 , and New Zealand and Southeast Asian countries follow with 1,896 and 1,255 students respectively.

A separate report showed that the number of Korean schoolchildren studying overseas is estimated at a record high of 16,446 for the year ending February 2005.

The ministry also said that most elementary and junior high school students live under an "illegal status" overseas.

due to certain conditions that the Korean government requires and difficult procedures to obtain a student visa.

Under heavy pressure that their children pursue higher education, parents here have been in a fever searching for education that their children need to enter top-level universities, or that will at least enable them to speak English fluently.

To achieve that, parents either spend an excessive amount of money for private education or send their children overseas, and many times the children are left alone in a new environment.

In fact, things don’t always end up happily ever after.

"About 70-80 percent of the students return home within two years because of their maladjustment in the unfamiliar place," Kim said.

"And another problem is that those who came back home remain behind all alone."

Alongside the increase of outgoing students, the number of students who return home also reached the highest at 14,963 last year.

Because education until junior high school is required to be completed in Korea, the law only allows certain young students to study abroad, such as children who have studied overseas for more than three years before coming to Korea or children holding foreign citizenships.

"There are only about 40-50 students a year who get the permit," Kim said.

The number breaks down into 9,676 elementary students, and 3,097 and 2,190 students for junior high and high school students, implying that young children who mostly were "without parents" in other countries cannot adapt themselves to their new environment, the Education Ministry said.