A recent debate on multiculturalism in Korean society was disturbed by some people antagonistic toward expatriates here.

One of them jumped on the podium and claimed that multicultural policies would destroy the integrity of the nation.

He then hurled invective against the organizer of the debate, a female immigrant from the Philippines who was elected to parliament as a proportional representative for the ruling Saenuri Party in the April general elections. While being taken out of the conference hall, the man shouted that Koreans had not voted for Rep. Jasmine Lee and she was not entitled to be a lawmaker.

Though subdued in minutes, the disturbance made the participants realize again there were still many obstacles to Koreans embracing multiculturalism.

The lawmaker, who had already suffered from a flood of xenophobic remarks online shortly after her election, must have felt disheartened at the scene that made all sensible Koreans feel ashamed.

But she never lost her composure, telling other participants she believed a multicultural society could be achieved more easily if efforts were made to understand and respect each other’s culture.

Her comment might pass as yet another common sense expression. Coming from a woman who has done her best to adapt to her adopted country for the past 18 years, however, it should not fall on deaf ears.

Koreans should now recognize that building a multicultural society is needed to ensure sustainable economic growth and social viability beyond simply getting along with the increasing expatriate population.

Most immigrants here were admitted into the country for its own needs.

Many single Korean men in rural areas have been able to start a family by marrying foreign women, mostly from Southeast Asian nations.

Most small manufacturing firms here have filled jobs shunned by young Koreans with expatriate workers.

Korea recently became the world’s seventh country with a population of more than 50 million, whose per capita income exceeds $20,000. A growing number of expatriates here have contributed to the nation achieving the landmark figures. Their roles will be more essential to maintaining the status in the future, especially in demographic terms.

The interrupters of the debate on multicultural society should have attended a forum on demographic policies on the same day, in which experts raised concerns about the population shrinkage in the coming decades.

With the fertility rate stuck at the current level of 1.24, the estimated population will be 170,000 short of the optimal population needed to guarantee sustainable growth in 2045, 1.26 million short in 2050, 3.51 million in 2060 and 7.8 million in 2080.

The number of economically active people aged 15-64, which stood at 35.98 million in 2010, is projected to decrease by more than 7 million over the coming three decades and by another 7 million in the following 20 years.

What demographists suggested as one of the most effective measures to cope with the shrinking population at the forum was to accept more immigrants with the fertility rate unlikely to increase sharply.

Under this circumstance, Koreans need to redefine the concept of their common community as the one embracing the growing number of expatriates, which has exceeded 1.26 million, accounting for more than 2 percent of the entire population.

Many of them are no longer mere guests to the country but have become new “Korean” people, who should be allowed to join native Koreans in creating a bright and prosperous future.

They should not be subject to exclusion but to consideration, support and inclusiveness. To help them settle in Korea should not be misunderstood as providing benefits for them or discriminating against native Koreans. Such support is necessary to further promote prosperity and interests of Korean society as a whole.

To ensure Korea’s smooth transition toward a truly multicultural society, tougher measures may be needed to prevent some misguided people from attempting to spread xenophobia and thus hamper social harmony.

It may be the time to consider enacting a law to make it possible to punish discriminative acts or words based on differences in appearances, religion, culture or language.

The shameful fuss at the event arranged by the first foreign-born lawmaker should serve as a lesson to show ― in a paradoxical way ― the need for ceaseless efforts to establish multiculturalism in our society.