The number of foreign nationals in Korea recently exceeded 1.5 million, accounting for about 3 percent of the population, data showed Monday.

According to Korea Immigration Service, the number increased by 2.67 percent year-on-year to 1,501,761 as of June 9 and more than doubled the figure from 10 years ago.

The increase adds to pressure on Korea to improve its immigration and multiculturalism policies to reduce discrimination and abuse against migrants.

The foreign population here hit the 1 million mark in 2007 and surpassed 1.4 million at the start of 2012.

Chinese nationals, including ethic Koreans, still take the lion’s share with 49.9 percent, up 1.8 percentage point from June last year, according to the data from the immigration office under the Justice Ministry. They were followed by Americans and Vietnamese, which took up 9.3 percent and 8.1 percent, respectively.

By age, residents in their 20s made up 29 percent, the largest proportion, followed by those in their 30s and 40s.

The number of those staying in the country illegally reached nearly 179,516, up 4.57 percent from a year ago.

The number of marriage immigrants, mostly women, has gradually increased to 149,386.

The government has been implementing support measures since 2008 and carried out a major overhaul of the policy in December focusing on improving education, eradicating discrimination, and supporting foreign nationals’ social and economic participation.

The recent measures include supportive programs for families of foreign workers and students as well. Foreign workers have been excluded from the government’s support programs so far.

Winning the public’s acceptance of government-led immigration policies has to come first as its plans could turn into reverse discrimination against native Koreans, experts warned.

The government also needs to provide cultural education to the public to help both native Koreans and foreign residents adapt into the emerging multiethnic society.

“It is really important to create an educational environment where students from different ethnic and cultural groups could build better understanding on different cultures and their values together,” said Kim Young-soon, a sociology professor at Inha University.

By Cho Chung-un and Lee Hyun-jeong
(christory@heraldcorp.com) (rene@heraldcorp.com)