In its announcement, the Education Department said five complaints involve alleged antisemitic harassment and two involve anti-Muslim harassment on campuses across the country.
The tensions are a test of the nation's tolerance of increasing diversity, when South Korea is looking to immigration to bolster its aging and shrinking workforce.
A Syrian refugee in Germany withdrew his bid for parliament over racist threats last month. The news came in the same week that a German comedian appeared on TV in blackface.
In the early 2000s, an Iranian American family's home was searched unexpectedly. Afterward, the family questioned their place in the U.S. but didn't talk about the incident for more than a decade.