Gov't to ban foreign criminal suspects from leaving country

Foreigners obliged to renew residence permit every 10 years

By Kim Bo-eun

The government will establish the legal grounds to ban foreigners suspected of having committed crimes that could lead to a minimum three years imprisonment up to a maximum of life or the death penalty from leaving the country.

The government finalized revisions to the Immigration Control Law at a Cabinet meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, Tuesday, to include the travel ban on foreign criminal suspects. The revisions will be handed over to the National Assembly for legislative procedures.

Another revision to the law will make it mandatory for foreigners to renew their permanent residence permit every 10 years.

According to the revisions, investigative authorities will request immigration offices to ban travel for suspects when there is concern they could destroy evidence.

Under the current law, there is only a clause banning travel for Korean suspects.

“Up until now, investigative authorities made a documented request for a travel ban for foreign criminal suspects to the justice minister, which was then put under review, taking a considerable time ― making it possible for foreign suspects to flee,” the Korea Immigration Service said in an email response, Tuesday.

In October 2015, there was a case in which foreign suspects allegedly killed and buried a female farm owner in her 50s in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, but escaped law enforcement after fleeing to Uzbekistan.

The suspects, who were illegal residents, worked at the farm. They were identified in surveillance cameras withdrawing cash from the farmer owner’s account at an ATM, but this was uncovered after they had already fled.

The revisions state if the investigative authorities request an immigration office for a travel ban on a foreign suspect, they must obtain approval from the justice minister within six hours of filing for the ban.

The revisions also impose a 10-year expiration period for residency permits for foreigners.

The residence permit for foreigners was introduced in April 2002 through revisions to the Immigration Control Law, but it did not outline means to renew the permit.

“Up until now, because foreigners here did not need to renew their residence permits, they tended not to report changes in address; also the deaths of foreign residents tended not to be reported ― leaving a loophole in the management of foreign residents,” the Korea Immigration Service said.

“This is why the revisions were drawn up for renewing resident permits every 10 years, in order to keep track of foreigners’ residences in the country.”