By Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporter
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism have prepared three cover designs for an electronic passport, which will go public for selection late this month, a foreign ministry source said Thursday.
``A joint committee of the two ministries was formed to improve the cover design of an e-passport and the committee has now narrowed the choices down to three designs,'' the source said on condition of anonymity.
He said that the committee will reveal the designs on Jan. 29 for public screening. However, even after this selection is made all candidate designs will have to go through a printing trial process, too.
E-passports will be issued to diplomats and government officials on a trial basis in March and other applicants will be able to get them from the following July, according to the foreign ministry.
Meanwhile, a government official expressed concerns over possible delay in the e-passport issuance schedule due to the National Assembly's failure to pass a revised passport law.
``The revision bill was submitted to the Assembly last year but it was not passed,'' the official said. ``If the lawmakers again fail to pass the bill in the session in February, the whole schedule of the e-passport issuance will likely change.''
The introduction of the e-passports, which have a chip containing fingerprints and other personal information, is a prerequisite for Korea to join the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) of the United States.
Seoul and Washington will hold consultations in the United States for Korea's entry into the VWP later this month.
Under the VWP, Koreans will be allowed to enter and stay in the United States for up to 90 days without a pre-visit visa for tourist or business purposes. Other candidate countries include the Czech Republic, Poland and Estonia.
South Korean Ambassador to Washington Lee Tae-sik said during the Assembly inspection of government offices last fall that he expects Korea to join the VWP in the second half of next year.
Another prerequisite for Korea is information sharing on Korean tourists traveling to the United States.
The U.S. law governing the VWP requires member countries to sign an agreement on information sharing.
The agreement is designed to prevent the entry of terrorists and international criminals into the United States. Among other things, the information will likely include travelers' identities and criminal records, as well as the country's terrorist watch list.