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As global higher education intensifies, international faculty mobility has become a defining dimension of globalization in the sector. However, existing scholarship remains primarily focused on flows toward major knowledge hubs, leaving reverse flows to non-Anglophone destinations underexamined. Drawing on push-pull theory, this study employed a qualitative research design by conducting 26 semi-structured interviews with international self-initiated expatriate (SIE) faculty members at a highly internationalized South Korean university to explore the motives and dynamic evolution of international mobility. Six core motives of initial mobility were identified and categorized into three levels by inductive thematic coding: macro-level (feasible job opportunities, family wellbeing, cultural continuity and novelty, economic and life stability); meso-level (intra-regional cooperation), and micro-level (life and career enhancement). To elucidate findings that transcended the push-pull paradigm, this study further integrated human capital and career capital perspectives. A central contribution of this study is the proposal of a two-stage Feasibility-to-Optimization decision trajectory. Findings indicate that in semi-peripheral hubs like South Korea, initial migration is primarily driven by macro-level two-sided motives, with structural push motives in the home country and facilitated by South Korea's state-led internationalization framework. Post-arrival, however, faculty members strategically pursue professional autonomy and cultural comfort at the micro-level to navigate institutional frictions within the South Korean system. Moreover, meso-level mobility is primarily facilitated through state-coordinated institutional channels rather than informal social networks. By constructing a multilevel theoretical framework for international faculty mobility, this study extends the explanatory scope of the push-pull model and offers policy implications for sustainable talent retention within peripheral higher education systems.