Few countries in the world must have as perfect a law for supporting interracial or multicultural homes as Korea. The Law on Supporting Multicultural Families was enacted in 2010 with the purpose of contributing to “improving the quality of life of multicultural families and their integration into Korean society by ensuring that they lead stable family lives.”

The statute orders the state and local governments to take measures necessary to ensure stable lives for those multicultural families. The minister of gender equality and family should establish basic plans for multicultural family policies every five years and conduct nationwide surveys on those families once every three years.

Besides, the prime minister leads a special committee to discuss and coordinate important matters related to multicultural families. The minister of education, science and technology and the education superintendents of special cities and provinces should implement measures to conduct education to help students better understand the situation multicultural families face.

That our society needs this kind of law means two things. First, the number of immigrant families has been growing rapidly with the increase of international marriages and influx of migrant workers and foreign students. As of last September, there were 1.4 million foreign nationals in Korea with 1.1 million registered for extended stay. Immigrants by marriage number 200,000 and they have 150,000 children.

The other factor is continuing difficulties for the foreign-born people to settle down in Korean society, many of whose members are unable and unwilling to accept those from different nations and cultures as equal. Their children from Korean spouses are also subject to a degree of prejudice and discrimination inside and outside schools.

Amidst the horrifying reports of bullying at schools, we are appalled by the story of Ismael Udin, a fourth grader at a primary school in Seoul, who wrote a note that he wanted to know how to die painlessly to end his suffering at school. The son of a Bangladeshi immigrant was voted by other students as the “most disgusting” member of the class and was kicked around as a kind of initiation. It is further surprising that the principal, reported by Udin’s family, took no other action but “admonishing” the molesting students.

These schoolchildren are apparently learning from adults. In a recent survey by an official think tank, about two-thirds of respondents agreed to the statement: “If there are more children of foreigners and immigrants at schools, they will have problems with Korean students.” Sixty-four percent of 1,000 people questioned replied they had concerns about the possibility of riots or social unrest by foreign nationals should their number continue to rise.

If the case of Udin is an extreme exception, other surveys reveal that some 30 percent of children from multicultural families have been subjected to bullying or other forms of discrimination by their peers. Even teachers sometimes show prejudice toward those children when they are slow in learning and express themselves poorly.

Korean prejudice against immigrants stems from the notion that they disrupt the “homogeneity” of Korean society and that foreign workers are taking away work opportunities for Korean youths. Yet, one needs to understand that they are here because they are needed ― in industries where Korean college graduates would not engage in tough jobs and in rural communities where female population has declined due to the tradition of male preference. One-tenth of marriages are with foreign brides these days.

Systemic efforts are rather sufficient as the multicultural families support law tells us. As many as 27 kinds of special support measures on education, health, welfare, cultural adaptation and prevention of domestic violence are being implemented by the central and local government authorities, with some 200 billion won set aside to help multicultural homes in 2012. All children from multicultural families are accommodated at nurseries free of charge.

But nothing is as important as changing people’s attitudes to accept different people as equal. Steady social education should be directed to help people understand that the foreign workers who are as intelligent and diligent as anyone here are essential to sustain the Korean economy. At a time when Korea has an extremely low fertility rate, they should be told that foreign brides are making lovely homes and helping maintain the population in this country.