South Korea’s ID Database Restored Before Visa-Free Entry for Chinese Tourists

Access to South Korea’s national ID database was restored on September 29, 2023, just before the implementation of a visa-free entry scheme for Chinese tourists. This clarification comes from the public data director at the Ministry of the Interior, who sought to refute conspiracy theories suggesting that the database outage allowed tourists to bypass legal requirements for opening mobile phone accounts.

The temporary disruption, caused by a fire at the National Information Resources Service (NIRS) in Daejeon, raised concerns among some about the potential for misuse of mobile phone accounts. In particular, claims circulated on social media that the outage enabled tourists to circumvent regulations requiring identity verification when activating mobile services.

Tara O, a US-based activist known for promoting conspiratorial narratives, posted on X (formerly Twitter) that the ID requirements were no longer enforced due to the fire. She suggested this would allow Chinese visitors to acquire phone accounts without proper identification. Her assertion included a reference to another post alleging that mobile stores were instructed to activate phones before confirming identity, leading to the possibility of using fraudulent or expired IDs.

Despite these claims, Bae Il-gwon, the public data director, stated that the verification process remained intact throughout the outage. “Stores continued the normal verification process,” he explained. While the ability to cross-check IDs against the government database was temporarily unavailable, identity checks were still performed using other methods.

The Ministry of Science and ICT confirmed that the legal requirement for telecom providers to verify national ID or alien registration numbers remained in effect. Under the Telecommunications Business Act, mobile subscribers must use official documents, such as a resident registration card or passport, when signing contracts. Short-term visitors, including those taking advantage of the newly established visa-free entry, can access prepaid SIM cards but cannot open mobile accounts without proper identification.

Following the NIRS fire on September 26, reports indicated that approximately 150,000 mobile phone accounts were activated without complete ID verification before the system was fully restored. This information was shared by telecom companies in data submitted to an opposition lawmaker.

The major telecom providers in South Korea—SK Telecom, KT, and LG U+—acknowledged that they temporarily shifted to an “activate first, verify later” procedure during the outage. They assured that from October 1, 2023, they completed a post-verification process, confirming the legitimacy of most accounts. For any discrepancies found, they stated intentions to reverify or cancel those accounts immediately.

Concerns regarding the misuse of mobile accounts, often involving “burner phones,” have been a longstanding issue in South Korea, predating both the NIRS fire and the new visa-free policy. Such incidents typically involve brokers misusing the IDs of registered foreigners, raising ongoing challenges for regulatory authorities.

In summary, while the NIRS outage coincided with heightened public anxiety surrounding Chinese tourists, the Ministry of the Interior has emphasized that the integrity of identity verification processes in South Korea remains firmly in place.