A citizen has his fingers scanned in a demonstration event held at Incheon International Airport, Monday. The Ministry of Justice said foreigners with a “suspicious identity” or an unclear purpose for their visit will have their fingers scanned and face photographed at all 22 international airports and harbors in the country from Wednesday. / Korea Times photo by Kim Joo-young |
By Park Si-soo
Starting Wednesday, foreign nationals suspected of using fake identities to enter the country or whose purpose of visiting Korea is suspicious will have their fingerprints scanned and face photographed at all 22 international airports and harbors in the country.
The move is intended to tighten security ahead of the G20 summit to be held in Seoul in November.
This is the first in a three-phased initiative to screen for “suspicious” foreign visitors by matching their biometric information with that of “blacklisted” people, the Ministry of Justice said Monday.
With the third step to be completed by later next year, providing fingerprints and photographs to the ministry will become mandatory for all foreigners at immigration checkpoints, the ministry said.
The legal grounds were reinstated early this month ― the law was scrapped in 2003 over fears of human rights infringement.
Those affected by the lowest level of screening are people whose identity is similar to that of an international terrorist or who have arrived with a passport listed by Interpol as “missing.”
For instance, those who transit other cities before coming to Korea or who buy a one-way ticket to Korea in cash are among those deemed suspicious.
“Cash is hardly ever used to buy flight tickets,” said Ahn Gyu-seok, a spokesman for the Korea Immigration Service. “We suspect that those who do so are attempting to prevent the authorities from tracking cash flows.”
Those who are not proficient in the language of the state of origin stipulated in their passport, and who lack basic knowledge about the country will also be questioned, the ministry said.
Officials did not elaborate on the guidelines for security concerns.
“The ministry has built up an extensive biometric database of fingerprints of foreigners convicted here and who were later deported,” Ahn said. “Another database built before 2003, when fingerprint registration was mandatory for all long-term foreign residents, was also added.”
Under the reinstated law, starting June next year, foreigners who stay here for more than 90 days will have their fingerprints and photographs registered with the government.
According to the ministry, about 1,500 people were caught attempting to pass through immigration on false passports in the first seven months of the year. Chinese passports were the most frequent target of fabrication at 732, followed by Thai at 425 and Mongolian at 57.
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김정은 軍에 선물도 父 답습…쌍안경·소총
