A Chinese citizen was sentenced to a rare jail term for entering South Korea with a bogus passport, a court ruled Thursday.
Judge Han Jae-bong of the court in Daegu sentenced the 55-year-old Chinese man to 10 months in prison. He will be deported after completing the sentence.
Most foreigners found guilty of the charges are deported without imprisonment.
The judge said the verdict was to show a tougher stance by the judiciary against illegal entry amid an increase in the number of foreigners caught attempting to enter the country with forged passports.
"He has committed the same crime in the past," the judge said. "The punishment was needed to help reduce similar crimes in the future and sound alarms for those considering illegal entry."
The same Chinese man was deported in 2004 for the use of a fabricated passport at an international port on the west coast. He entered the country in the same way in 2007, but was arrested in Daegu in April.
According to the Ministry of Justice, China ranked first last year as the highest number of people caught attempting to pass through immigration with forged passports came from there with 675 cases. Thailand was ranked second during the same period with 651.