As of February 3, 2007, the South Korean Supreme Court has announced that the most popular last names in Korea are Kim, Lee, Park and Choi for both non-Koreans who acquire citizenship as well as for native Koreans themselves. A relevant statistic also reported by the Supreme Court was that out of 110 individuals who became Korean citizens between October 2006 and December 2006, 51 chose the popular last name Kim.

All in all, Korean government statistics account for around 9.9 million Koreans with the surname Kim, which is roughly 21.6 percent of the country’s total population. Lee follows with 14.8 percent, and then comes Park with 8.5 percent and Choi with 4.7 percent. A Korean court official said that with the rise in popularity of international marriages, diversity within Korean last names is sure to increase.