Few Koreans would deny their country should accept more immigrants to maintain and enhance its demographic vitality and growth momentum.

A report published by a local think tank last year warned that Korea’s potential growth rate ― an economy’s maximum capacity to grow without causing additional inflation ― would fall below 1 percent in 2050, due to a shrinking working-age population. According to the report, the country needs to let in a total of 9.26 million immigrants by 2030 and 14.79 million by 2050 if it is to raise its potential growth rate by 1 additional percentage point.

Aside from pushing for active immigration policies, Korea faces an increasing need to reduce the number of illegal immigrants and resolve problems involving them.

From a positive viewpoint, most illegal immigrants in the country do low-paid, difficult jobs shunned by local workers. But a string of crimes committed by illegal foreign residents in recent months has raised public concerns, prompting calls for strengthened measures to locate and deport them. Law enforcement officers have had difficulty tracing them as they have no residence records.

According to data from the National Police Agency, the number of foreigners who committed crimes here increased from 20,623 in 2008 to 26,663 in 2012. The figure for the first seven months of last year amounted to 16,922, about 40 percent of whom committed felonies such as murder, robbery and rape. Police officers estimate a considerable portion of the crimes were committed by illegal aliens.

For much of the past decade, the number of illegal foreign residents has hovered above 200,000, showing an upward trend particularly in the last four years.

The proportion of those staying illegally among long-term foreign residents here stood at 11.6 percent last year, far above the 2.8 percent in Japan. Korea needs to learn a lesson from Japan, which reduced its number of illegal foreign residents from about 219,000 in 2003 to less than 60,000 last year, while simultaneously pursuing policies to accept more immigrants.

It is practically impossible for only 150 immigration officers ― compared to 850 in Japan ― to curb illegal immigration in the country. Their number needs to be raised and cooperation with relevant government agencies should be strengthened.

The crackdown may have to focus on those deemed more susceptible to committing crimes. We should be reminded that curbing illegal immigration is necessary for precluding public antipathy against immigrants and consolidating the foundation for a multicultural society. In this context, it is undesirable to deny undocumented immigrant children the right to receive education and medical treatment. Guaranteeing such basic rights regardless of the legal status of their parents would help the country become a place where foreign talents want to emigrate for a better life.