Foreigners able to open mobile phone accounts quickly

By Lee Min-hyung

Any foreigners entering the country will be able to open mobile phone accounts as soon as they arrive at the airport, the nation’s telecom authority said Wednesday.

The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said the service will be available from Thursday, allowing foreigners to open cell phone accounts if they submit their passports at the airport.

“We are going to offer a real-time identity verification service for foreigners, helping them use mobile devices immediately at the airport,” the ministry said in a statement.

Foreigners were not able to open mobile accounts as they had to wait for their immigration records to be verified by immigration authorities.

“It took an average of two to three days for foreigners to open a mobile account in Korea, even after they submitted their immigration verification information,” said a science ministry official. “But we decided to reform the process as more and more foreigners visit the country and demand the service.”

The science ministry has cooperated with the Ministry of Justice to streamline the process.

“Both ministries agreed to work on the new system to meet the growing needs from foreigners who visit the country on business trips,” said the official.

“Under Korean law, foreigners cannot freely buy universal subscriber identity module (USIM) cards to use mobile phones, so they had to put up with inconvenience,” he said. “In most other countries, foreign visitors can easily buy USIM cards to use mobile phone services.

“We expect the new system to help the immigration office verify foreigners’ identities in real-time at the airport.”