The number of foreign residents living in the country for three months or longer as of November last year hit an all-time high of 2,459,542, a report by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety showed last week.

The report defines all foreign nationals living in Korea for over three months, naturalized citizens who are not ethnically Korean and children born here to foreign national parents as "foreign residents."

This record was attributed to a surge in the numbers of foreign workers and international students coming here, particularly after the lifting of pandemic restrictions.

The total foreign resident population was the largest since statistics began to be compiled in 2006 and also broke a record for the second year in a row.

Compared with the populations of 17 provinces and metropolitan cities, taken together, the total population of foreign residents is larger than that of Daegu, Korea's seventh most populated metropolitan city of 2.37 million.

The share of foreign residents in the total population of the country was also at an all-time high of 4.8 percent. When the share of foreign residents in a given country exceeds 5 percent, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development classifies it as a multiracial and multicultural country. Given demographic trends, Korea is likely to be categorized as one next year.

Already in the counties of Yeongam, South Jeolla Province and Eumseong, North Chungcheong Province, one in five residents are foreign residents. Not counting metropolitan city jurisdictions, Ansan in Gyeonggi Province was home to the largest population of foreign residents with 108,003 people, followed by two nearby cities: Hwaseong with the second largest foreign population of 76,711, and Siheung with the third largest of 74,653.

The number of cities, counties and districts where either more than 10,000 foreign residents live or the share of foreign residents in the population exceeds 5 percent increased from 97 in 2022 to 127 last year.

A multicultural era has practically begun, but many foreign residents are being exploited or subjected to dangerous conditions. Overdue wages paid vicariously by the government to foreign workers reached 79.1 billion won last year, according to data from the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service. The amount nearly doubled in four years from 40.3 billion won in 2019. The enforcement of basic labor standards must be strengthened.

Foreign residents are also exposed to accident-prone work environments. A massive fire in the Aricell battery manufacturing plant in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province in June, killed a total of 23, 18 of whom were of foreign nationality. Two foreign workers were found dead -- apparently of carbon monoxide poisoning -- in a greenhouse in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province earlier this month. Continuous enforcement of safety measures is critical especially for small and medium-sized companies employing foreign workers.

The college admissions rate for children of families in which one or both of the parents are of foreign nationality is about half that of students whose parents are both Korean nationals. For such children, the school dropout rate is also higher than the average. The government must strengthen support for students from multicultural backgrounds so that they have the same foundation to graduate from school and opportunities to attend university as all other students here.

Moving forward, the number of foreign workers and international students must also increase as the population of Korean nationals is shrinking due to the low fertility rate. In 2022, 118 of 228 cities, counties and districts were regarded as places where the existing population of residents could dwindle to nothing before long.

Attracting talented people from abroad is no longer optional but essential. Big changes to the composition of the population are on the horizon and the country needs to be prepared for them.

Immigration policy has so far been focused on attracting foreign workers, but it is becoming increasingly important to ensure that foreign residents have both legal status and are well integrated into society.

Late last year, there were 423,657 unregistered immigrants, accounting for 17 percent of the foreign resident population. Since then, the government has cracked down on them and arrested 39,038 people -- 9.2 percent -- but the problem remains. The deeper reasons behind the problem of unregistered immigration need to be explored, understood and tackled.

Regrettably, a revision bill to establish an immigration agency to deal with immigration affairs from policymaking to conflict management is dormant in the National Assembly.

If the rising population of foreign residents in the country is not managed well, existing xenophobia and discrimination could spiral into hate crimes and violence, making Korea's transition to a multicultural and multiracial country a turbulent one.