JEJU (South Korea): The South Korean government plans to introduce a system that authorises foreigners to enter the southern resort island of Jeju using the internet and mobile applications.
Called Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA), the system uses an existing visa waiver programme to curb illegal immigration.
The Ministry of Justice said that the Korea ETA allowed people from 112 countries with visa waivers, to enter South Korea by registering their travel information and receiving authorisation before departure.
Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon said the ministry will streamline the immigration process for legitimate entries and enforce border controls against attempts to illegally enter the country.
According to a Korea Times report, the system has been in place nationwide since September last year, but Jeju, the country's top travel destination for international tourists, has been an exception.
The island's borders reopened last June and tourists were given a 30-day visa under the programme, which had been suspended since February 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Jeju Tourism Association said that during the suspension period, the number of foreign tourists visiting the island plummeted from the pre-pandemic level of 1.73 million to 210,000 in 2020 and just 40,000 last year.
Since the borders reopened and the visa reintroduced, authorities said the number of foreign visitors trying to take advantage of the visa waiver programme has also increased and they have been illegally overstaying.
The Korea Times report said that last Tuesday, 112 Thai nationals out of 183 who arrived on Jeju via a chartered flight, were denied entry as they were found to have unclear reasons for travel.
The next day, 108 additional Thai visitors out of another 182 were also turned down.
The report said 23 Mongolian nationals who entered the country on a group tour of 156 people have not returned to their home country after their visas expired and are now illegal residents in the country.
One of them was caught at the Port of Jeju while attempting to board a boat that was headed to the southwestern city of Mokpo on the mainland. Two others were found illegally employed on Jeju Island.
The justice ministry said it plans to introduce K-ETA to the island's border control as an additional step to preventing the entry of foreign nationals who were trying to illegally seek employment in the country.
The ministry said an overwhelming 93 per cent or 206 out of 220 Thai nationals who were denied entry by the immigration office this week at Jeju airport had been denied entry on the K-ETA system before departure.
It added that a similar electronic travel authorisation system has been used in countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
However, there has been no signs of a drop in the number of tourists coming into these countries.