Fingerprinting Bill Draws Fire
By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
About 40 civic groups have joined hands in a campaign against having foreign residents and visitors fingerprinted from next year.
They issued a joint statement Thursday denouncing a bill empowering the Ministry of Justice to collect biometric information including fingerprints from foreigners, and to summon suspicious non-Koreans for questioning without a warrant.
The protest came as the government plans to submit the bill to the National Assembly by July for implementation as early as next year.
Once enacted, foreigners refusing to provide their biometric information will face refusal of entry. But foreign civil servants, diplomats, and children under the age of 17 will be exempt.
Many industrialized nations, including the United States, Japan, and European countries, have already introduced fingerprinting out of security concerns, the ministry said.
``It's out of date for Korea to revive fingerprint gathering since the practice was scrapped in 2004. The plan would project the wrong impression that Korea regards all inbound foreigners as potential criminals,'' they said in the statement.
The NGOs, including Lawyers for Democratic Society, were joined by the minor opposition Democratic Labor Party in the protest.
They expressed serious concerns over the plan to summon and question ``suspicious'' foreigners without a court warrant.
``We don't deny the necessity for such investigative measures, but the bill does not specify concrete guidelines needed to prevent immigration officers from abusing their power,'' they said.
In response, the government said the measure was to prevent crime suspects from entering Korea.
A spokesman for the Korea Immigration Service said, ``These investigative measures have been implemented even in the absence of a law. But they will be inserted into the bill for transparency.'' The official added legally binding guidelines will be introduced soon.
The bill is also intended to allow immigration officers to search and collect private information on ``suspicious'' foreigners to block their entry.
The information includes name, nationality and home address, accompanying persons, and departure point and destination among others.
Under the current law, information gathering is warranted but the bill aims to widen intelligence gathering.
``It's unconstitutional,'' said lawyer Kim Jong-chul, co-author of the statement. ``Under the Constitution, a warrant issued by a Korean court is necessary to search and collect any private information.''