Thursday, February 14, 2008

[The Chosun Ilbo, February 1 2008] Passport Fingerprinting Plan Delayed to 2010

Koreans will likely not be fingerprinted yet when applying for electronic passports (e-passports), which will be introduced as early as the second half of this year.

The government has reportedly finished discussing with the National Assembly a bill to revise the passport law, which would temporarily introduce non-fingerprint-carrying e-passports for two years before introducing fingerprint-carrying e-passports from 2010, it was learned on Thursday.

An official with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said, "We're going to introduce e-passports to prevent passports from being forged or altered and to enhance passport holder credibility. The government originally intended to issue fingerprint-carrying passports from the start. But finally it has decided to set a two-year grace period before introducing fingerprint-carrying passports, for fear of some possible problems, including leakage of passport holders' personal information."

No comments: