Foreigners to Get Easier Website Access
By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
Foreigners in Korea without residence cards will soon be able to more conveniently access services on the Internet. The Ministry of Justice said Sunday it plans to expand identification services for foreign travelers and other short-term foreign nationals.
So far, only foreigners who have residence cards can use Internet services requiring identification numbers. Therefore, tourists and foreign nationals residing here for short periods without ID cards, including diplomats, have had difficulty using Internet banking and other services available on the Internet.
To remove these inconveniences, the Korea Immigration Service under the ministry will introduce a new database system in cooperation with the Korea Association of Information & Telecommunication (KAIT).
Once registered on the system, tourists and foreign nationals will be able to access Internet services provided by various companies that are registered with KAIT.
``Foreigners will only be required to submit their name and date of birth to register. With this database, they can access as many Internet services as Koreans do,'' ministry official Kim Young-guen said.
The ministry will encourage more companies to use the new database system.
In addition to this plan, the ministry said it will work together with finance organizations to help prevent the acceptance of fake residence cards for banking services.
For more information, call the Help Center of the ministry 1345 or KAIT (02) 580-0571. Also, companies planning to access the database system can inquire at (02) 580-0572/0578.