Passengers Bound For South Korea To Be Screened By The Immigration Bureau Before Issued A Ticket

South Korea made an announcement to pre-screen passengers traveling to the country in an effort to keep drug addicts, individuals with infectious diseases and terrorists from entering the territory. Any passenger considered ineligible would be banned from boarding a plane at the pre-departure site.

The News Nigeria noted on Wednesday that the Justice Ministry of South Korea said that the decision to examine a passenger's background beforehand was made in order to strengthen aviation safety and border security.

The recent MERS outbreak that entered South Korea on May 26 and killed 36 people, wherein the last case was reported on July 4, was one incident that the country wanted to avoid in the years to come.

The bill revision required airlines to provide passenger information to the ministry for thorough investigation and approval prior to issuing tickets. This contracted the Immigration Bureau's previous process, which received information through the Advanced Passenger Information System (APIS) only after departure, consequently making it harder to avoid possible offences.

In the revised bill, airlines were spared from the inconvenience of bringing a rejected passenger back to the departure site.

Yonhap News also reported on Wednesday that the ministry already rejected and banned 157 passengers from entering South Korea during their test operations in Shanghai's Pudong International Airport, Thailand's China and Bangkok International Suvarnabhumi Airport and Japan's Nagoya Airport.

Some of the reasons were carrying stolen passports, an American who was found to have sex offences records and a Russian who had a record of being deported from the South due to drug-related crimes.