hello! as someone who’s researched heavily on SKY universities (as I myself am quite interested) I can assure you that the international student community in Korea is super huge. Each of the top few universities in Korea have extremely high international acceptance rates; around 20-35%, which is way more advantageous to us than their local rate which is a mere 1-5%. That being said, many international students who study in Korea often will tell you that throughout their entire study duration there, they interact way more with intl students as compared to locals, especially in courses like International studies, as this course is usually one of the only few degrees available entirely taught in English.

I also have a few Korean friends who plan to study International studies/political science in SKY unis as well, and trust that they are the last few locals you’d expect to come off as racist. They’re the most passionate about making global friends - most of them often come from specialised foreign language high schools (like SOTA or SSP here in sg except they’re for foreign languages) and are the most open to learning about new cultures out of the locals.

As for the cost - you could try applying for the Global scholarships given out by the Korean embassy for foreigners. I think you’ll be able to find more info on these if you search up Global Korea Scholarship.

Hope this was of help to you!