With increasing numbers of Chinese illegals entering the EU with forged Korean passports, Finland border guards are apparently testing Korean passport holders to see if they are really Korean.
No word on whether Finnish border authorities have instituted minimum scores in All Look Same for new recruits.
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21 Comments
I guess under the circumstances, i don’t see this to be too much of a problem as long as innocent people aren’t being thrown into a cell and interrogated. It’s not like the Finnish government is making Korean travelers into victims, Koreans are victims of the Chinese government being such that it makes people want to flee.
The question I have, is what about Chinese-Korean? I know a few people from my school that had Chinese passports, and spoke Chinese, but they also spoke Korean at home, went to special Korean only schools, and considered them to be Korean (not north or south, just korean). I would assume they know the answers to these questions, and would even have a Korean face (minus the plastic surgery — so actually a more korean face then people that have korean passports) so they could easily pass as “korean” even if in reality they are chinese (nationals).
This is a serious problem that’s been happening in Canada as well - giving a big black eye to South Korea. And these aren’t ethnic Koreans from China. Several months back, there was a big news that some South Koreans were caught in human smuggling in Canada/US border. It turned out that they weren’t South Koreans, but were Chinese with South Korean passports.
http://tinyurl.com/bdo76
South Korea has to do something serious about its passport, which I understand is very easy to forge. In South East Asia, South Korean passports are bought and sold in black markets, and they fetch a premium price, unlike the Japanese passports which are harder to forge. It ain’t just in Europe and Canada, look at Malaysia who also suffer from forged South Korean passports used by ethnic Chinese nationals to get illegally into Malaysia.
http://tinyurl.com/9j37n
Here’s more on Chinese smuggling gangs using South Korean passports to get into Canada.
http://tinyurl.com/be68m
Chinese organized crime is at the root of it all:
http://tinyurl.com/dpfcs
always blame others for our own shortfalls.
it’s the stupid cheap-ass korean gov’t that can’t even produce a decent int’nat docu.
yeah.. we’re no.1 we’re no.1 we’re no.1. yeah no.1 dickheads on the int’nat stage.
“it’s the stupid cheap-ass korean gov’t that can’t even produce a decent int’nat docu”
No arguments there. I heard a while back that the Korean government has been looking into new passports with new imprint technology, but I don’t know where that is currently - they certainly need to do something very quickly or end up losing visa free status with many countries. In the meantime, I’ve been doing some digging on the internet, and the problem seems to be very bad, far worse than I’ve ever thought. It’s no wonder the US government is reluctant to give visa free status to South Korea.
Even in Brunei, and even in Los Angeles, Korean passports are very popular with thieves.
http://news.pacificnews.org/ne.....cle_id=415
Tarzan wrote:
always blame others for our own shortfalls.
it’s the stupid cheap-ass korean gov’t that can’t even produce a decent int’nat docu.
yeah.. we’re no.1 we’re no.1 we’re no.1. yeah no.1 dickheads on the int’nat stage.
Nah, I think it’s people shooting their mouth off without having all the facts that holds us back.
Starting early this year, the ROK government begain issuing new passports that are harder to forge.
And South Korea is hardly alone. My 1997 U.S. passport has almost no security features. It’s not unlike these security features are suddenly brought down from on high and everyone adopts them. Look how long it too the U.S. to adopt money with basic anti-counterfeit features long common in Korean, Japanese, Hong Kong, and European money.
Kimbob wrote:
South Korea has to do something serious about its passport, which I understand is very easy to forge. In South East Asia, South Korean passports are bought and sold in black markets, and they fetch a premium price, unlike the Japanese passports which are harder to forge.
The new passports don’t yet have biometric data, but they are supposedly capable of including biometric data. This is, I believe, one of the major things holding Korea back from getting visa-free entry, so I hope they really are well on their way to solving that problem.
Kushibo, are Chinese and Chinese gansters using 1997 US passports, or any US passport to gain entry in to other nations? Nope. But they are using modern Korean passports. Its a fact Kushibo, and a problem, otherwise the Fins, and many many ohter nations no doubt, would not be dealing with it the way they do.
Somehow, every subject about Korea, after Kushibos comments, turns in to a comment about somthing bad american has done. Then often topic is hijacked. (not that Kushibo is the only one to do this, Nulji and others manages to do their best too)
but, so, what good will biometric fancy computer chip implanted passports do when entering a county other than korea where the device originates from? the fancy computer chip does no good when the country you’re trying to go to doesn’t have the ability to read them right? unless korea is going to supply every country in the world that is attractive to potential chinese refugees, (that’s gunna be a lot) with biometric readers for it’s passports, i don’t see it doing much good.
i’ve never seen a s. korean passport up close, but the chinese ones i’ve seen look pretty suspicious even if they are 100% real.
kinda like american money. after using japanese money for a few years, american money feels like monopoly money.
Somehow, every subject about Korea, after Kushibos comments, turns in to a comment about somthing bad american has done. Then often topic is hijacked. (not that Kushibo is the only one to do this, Nulji and others manages to do their best too)
It works the other way, too. I can’t even begin to count how many of my comment threads have been hijacked by commenters other than Nulji/Kushibo into Korean/gyopo bashes.
Sorry I should add that its not every comment that Kushibo makes hijacks the topic twards anti-usa, many times he make subtle anti-japanese comments or just bandwaggons with the anti-japanese.
http://marmot.blogs.com/korea/.....t-12353954
damn, that alllooksame test is pretty tough. i only got 5, and as it said, i may as well have just tossed a coin, although i dunno where to get a 3 sided coin. still my korean wife only got 7, and my japanese co-worker onlyt got 11, which isn’t really that great either.
OK, Shingles, would you be kind enough to dispense with the Kushibo basking?
to be fair kushibo doen’t mind criticising korea either. i think he takes a pretty balanced position. criticism all round i say.
Ten thousand monkeys on ten thousand keyboards at the Shingles Sanitarium came up with this:
Kushibo, are Chinese and Chinese gansters using 1997 US passports, or any US passport to gain entry in to other nations? Nope. But they are using modern Korean passports.
Are they using passports issued from May this year? If not, then NO they are not using the current versions. The ROK government has done a major overhaul to remedy this (see article link).
On the other hand, if these are the NEW passports, then there is a big problem (see article link).
Its a fact Kushibo, and a problem, otherwise the Fins, and many many ohter nations no doubt, would not be dealing with it the way they do.
Shingles, I don’t know what is worse about you, that you have a hard-on for going after me or that you run off at the mouth without actually reading and/or comprehending what I wrote.
I’ll bold-face it for you so you won’t have to look up too many words:The introduction of non-forgeable passports is much belated according to officials, as most advanced countries have already adopted similar systems.
“Until now, Korean passports have been one of the most popular around the world, which is quite shameful, Lee told reporters. “They have been traded on the black market as they are easy to forge and enjoy a visa-waiver status with a large number of countries.”
South Korea is currently on the visa-waiver lists of about 70 nations. According to the ministry and the national police, a single passport can fetch up to 10 million won.
“Some 70,000 South Korean passports are believed to be lost or stolen each year and traded on the black market,” a ministry official said. “The new features will drastically reduce the forgery and falsification of passports.”
He added the new passport, having a magnetic strip, will also help reduce the time needed to depart and enter the country.
Somehow, every subject about Korea, after Kushibos comments, turns in to a comment about somthing bad american has done.
You are mental. Your post was the first one after mine. And if these threads take a “something bad America has done” turn, it’s because you’ve got some mutated Sixth Sense where you see America bashing where it isn’t.
Then often topic is hijacked. (not that Kushibo is the only one to do this, Nulji and others manages to do their best too)
Dude, look in a mirror.
rowanrowan wrote:
to be fair kushibo doen’t mind criticising korea either. i think he takes a pretty balanced position. criticism all round i say.
Ah, people just see what they want to see and filter out the rest. I could point out at least three major posts on blog that have some uber-nationalistic Koreans convinced that I’m Korea bashing. And Shingles sees a swipe at atrocity deniers and suggests I’m surreptitiously bashing the entire country of Japan.
Darin wrote:
but, so, what good will biometric fancy computer chip implanted passports do when entering a county other than korea where the device originates from? the fancy computer chip does no good when the country you’re trying to go to doesn’t have the ability to read them right? unless korea is going to supply every country in the world that is attractive to potential chinese refugees, (that’s gunna be a lot) with biometric readers for it’s passports, i don’t see it doing much good.
First, the passports are capable of carrying biometric data.
Second, that was only one of a number of forgery-proofing measures taken for the new passports.
Third, I believe there are international standards for reading the material inside the passports. The United States, as I mentioned, has required this kind of thing for countries to have visa-free status.
And to spell this out for Shingles: this is an example of showing how the Korean government was responsible, in part, for what has long been a common complaint about ROK-US relations, the lack of reciprocated visa-free entry.
dunno why but i ended up as rowanrowan instead of just rowan in the above posts, just incase anyone wants to direct any comments at me…
The guards should ask them if they know what waiting your turn means. If they dont know they are real Koreans.
Mr. Roberts.. ohh. ouch.. sadly, where there’s smoke, there’s fire… stereotypes and generalizations are bad things, but usually at least somewhat based on fact.
you could apply the same question to 50+ japanese women too, they have no idea what a line is. it’s so bad that when they cut in front of me i straight up call them out, and ask them if they know what a line is. they just get upset, but the other people around all smile.
The guards should ask them if they know what waiting your turn means. If they dont know they are real Koreans.
Come on! Even the ajummas know what a line is: it’s that thing that gets in their way when they’re pushing to the front.
Robert,
I don’t know what’s better; your posts, or your comment section.