New Fingerprinting System Leads to 31 Deportations

Seoul, South Korea -- Some 31 foreigners, including Ghanaians, were deported when they were identified as having criminal records two weeks after a new fingerprinting system was installed at airports in Korea. According to the Justice Ministry, authorities identified suspicious foreigners and screened their fingerprints. As a result, 31 were linked to crimes in Korea in the past or had been deported previously after overstaying their visas.

They came from China, Mongolia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Ghana, and all had passports under new names. Unlike forged passports, those made out in the names of others are issued legitimately but with laundered identities and are hard to detect without fingerprint identification. Some of the 31 foreigners who were deported visited Korea several times with passports under different names.

Since the beginning of this month, the Justice Ministry has been scanning the fingerprints of foreigners entering Korea's 22 airports and ports who bear similarities to international terror suspects, carry stolen passports, show unique travel patterns or are suspected of using forged or altered passports. The ministry is comparing their fingerprints with those of 230,000 foreigners in Korea with criminal records.

"We've detected more offenses than we'd expected, deporting two to three foreigners a day," said a customs official. "Once the system is implemented for all foreigners, it will be difficult for criminals to enter Korea."