By Kwon Mee-yoo
With only three days remaining until the G20 Seoul Summit, security alert at all of the country’s airports will be raised to the highest level today, as part of efforts to prevent people with ties to terrorist groups from entering Korea, as well as to better detect potential bombs and other dangerous materials.
The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs said Sunday that the security level at Korea’s 14 airports will be raised to “serious,” or “red,” for the first time in the country’s history.
The airport threat advisory scale runs from low (green), guarded (blue), warning (yellow), alert (orange) to serious (red).
The serious level comes into effect when the authorities are positive about attempted terrorist attacks against flights or airport facilities or possible threats against state guests or VIPs from overseas.
With the upgrade, half of all passengers have body searches and half of all hand-carried luggage will be opened for checks. Normally, 10 percent of people and baggage go through such searches.
Thirty percent of cargo loaded on planes will also be opened and searched, which in normal times are loaded directly.
Trash bins at the airports will be emptied every 30 minutes to prevent explosives being placed in them and late-night operation of the commercial sections of the airports will be prohibited.
Leaving vehicles unattended near airport facilities will also not be allowed. If drivers do not return to their parked cars within five minutes, the car will be towed.
“As the security level has been raised to the highest, it will take longer to board a plane than in ordinary times,” an official of the Incheon International Airport Corp. said. “We ask for the complete cooperation of passengers and advise them to arrive at airports one hour earlier than usual.”