'It is not because less people are trying to emigrate, but because countries, citing their rising unemployment rates amid the economic recession, are choosing to freeze their immigration quotas,' said Choi Dae-hee of the ministry's consul services department.

In particular, the phenomenon was marked in countries such as the United States, Canada and New Zealand, which are popular destinations for Koreans and also the nations with the strictest immigration regulations, Choi said.