rchristo10
Joined: 14 Jul 2009
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 Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2010 5:30 pm Post subject: Cash is a social evil!--Profiling 101 from 1950 |
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Suspicious visitors to be fingerprinted from Wed.
By Park Si-soo
Starting Wednesday, foreign nationals suspected of using fake identities to enter the country or whose purpose of visiting Korea is suspicious will have their fingerprints scanned and face photographed at all 22 international airports and harbors in the country.
The move is intended to tighten security ahead of the G20 summit to be held in Seoul in November.
This is the first in a three-phased initiative to screen for �suspicious� foreign visitors by matching their biometric information with that of �blacklisted� people, the Ministry of Justice said Monday.
With the third step to be completed by later next year, providing fingerprints and photographs to the ministry will become mandatory for all foreigners at immigration checkpoints, the ministry said.
The legal grounds were reinstated early this month ― the law was scrapped in 2003 over fears of human rights infringement.
Those affected by the lowest level of screening are people whose identity is similar to that of an international terrorist or who have arrived with a passport listed by Interpol as �missing.�
For instance, those who transit other cities before coming to Korea or who buy a one-way ticket to Korea in cash are among those deemed suspicious.
�Cash is hardly ever used to buy flight tickets,� said Ahn Gyu-seok, a spokesman for the Korea Immigration Service. �We suspect that those who do so are attempting to prevent the authorities from tracking cash flows.�
Those who are not proficient in the language of the state of origin stipulated in their passport, and who lack basic knowledge about the country will also be questioned, the ministry said.
Officials did not elaborate on the guidelines for security concerns.
�The ministry has built up an extensive biometric database of fingerprints of foreigners convicted here and who were later deported,� Ahn said. �Another database built before 2003, when fingerprint registration was mandatory for all long-term foreign residents, was also added.�
Under the reinstated law, starting June next year, foreigners who stay here for more than 90 days will have their fingerprints and photographs registered with the government.
According to the ministry, about 1,500 people were caught attempting to pass through immigration on false passports in the first seven months of the year. Chinese passports were the most frequent target of fabrication at 732, followed by Thai at 425 and Mongolian at 57.
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http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/08/117_72265.html
Considering that a many number of foreigners entering into South Korea come looking for work on a one-way ticket paid in cash makes me wonder how this policy will effect people with legitimate reasons for coming. A two-way ticket was the policy, but that's been scraped and the one-way is perfectly legal & so is looking for a job.
I especially wonder how it will effect my Chinese friends and others who either don't have a way of paying via card or choose to pay with cash (which is perfectly legal in most countries).
This kind of profiling happens everywhere, but really can hurt people. My feelings are clearly to the way the article was written.
For some reason I keep imagining James Bond with a suitcase of say about 1 mill. Korean won sneaking clandestinely into a back alley tea house with a message from M to use the line "one-way back to nowhere" with the bald Iraqi who opens the heavy iron gates at the secret headquarters of Korean Air in Madagascar.
Last edited by rchristo10 on Mon Aug 30, 2010 11:26 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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