Republic of Korea passports (Korean: ???? ??) are issued to citizens of South Korea to facilitate international travel. Like any other passports, they serve as proof for passport holders' personal information, such as nationality and date of birth. South Korean passports also indicate the holder's resident registration number, unless the holder does not have one. Republic of Korea passports are issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and printed by the Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation (KOMSCO) since 1973.
Video Republic of Korea passport
Required documents for application
When you apply for the first time or renew in Korea, and you are 18 or above
- National ID Card or Driving License (The document must show Resident Registration Number starting with 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, or 0 indicating the bearer's possession of South Korean citizenship)
- Documents related to the Mandatory Military Service, if applicable
- Age 25 to 27 male citizens who have not completed the mandatory military service: Overseas Travel Permit from MMA of the Republic of Korea offices
- Age 18 to 24 male citizens who have not completed the mandatory military service: Nothing Required
- Citizens, regardless of gender, who fall into one of the categories:
- Male citizens who are not under any of the categories mentioned above: Citizen registration certificate(?????o??) or Certificate of Military Service(?????) (Can be waived if the applicant authorizes the passport issuing center to look up the documents via the government network)
- Passport Application Form (??? ???? ?? ? 1? ??)
- Photo
- Application fees
- Previous passport, if available
When you apply for the first time or renew in Korea, and you are under 18
- Passport Application Form (??? ???? ?? ? 1? ??)
- Photo
- Parent/Guardian Consent Form (????? ???)
- Certificate of One's Seal Impression (?????) or Confirmation of an Autograph (?????????) of the applicant's parent or guardian
- ID Card or Driving License of the applicant's parent or guardian
- Basic Certificate (?????) or Family registration certificate(???????) (Can be waived if the passport issuing center can look up the documents via the government network with consent)
- Previous passport, if available
- Application fees
- Varying documents required if:
- the custody of the child is awarded to both parties, joint legal custody,
- the child's parents divorced,
- the custody of the child is awarded to only one single party, sole custody,
- the parent who has custody of the child is not in Korea,
- the child is not in Korea, or
- the parent who has the custody of the child cannot exercise the custody and the child is going abroad for an educational purpose.
Reissue under the same expiry date in Korea
- Former passport
- Passport Application Form (??? ???? ?? ? 1? ??)
- Photo
- Charge
When you renew outside Korea, and you are an 18 or above and under 25 male and completed the mandatory military service, or an 18 or above female
- Passport Application Form (??? ???? ?? ? 1? ??)
- Photo
- Current Passport or a copy of the biographical page of the passport
- Application fees
- Additional documents might be required depending on the embassies or consulates.
When you renew outside Korea, and you are under 18
- Passport Application Form (??? ???? ?? ? 1? ??)
- Photo
- Current Passport or a copy of the biographical page of the passport
- Parent/Guardian Consent Form (????? ???)
- Application fees
- Additional documents might be required depending on the embassies or consulates.
When you apply for the first time outside Korea
- Passport Application Form (??? ???? ?? ? 1? ??)
- Photo
- Any document that proves the applicant was born overseas
- Basic Certificate (?????) and Family registration certificate(???????) issued within 3 months
- Application fees
- Additional documents might be required depending on the embassies or consulates.
When you renew outside Korea, and you are a male, above 24 and under 38 and have not completed the mandatory military service
- Passport Application Form (??? ???? ?? ? 1? ??)
- Photo
- Current Passport or a copy of the biographical page of the passport
- A copy of Overseas Travel Permit
- Application fees
- Additional documents might be required depending on the embassies or consulates.
Reissue under the same expiry date outside Korea
- Former passport or a copy of the biographical page of the passport
- Passport Application Form (??? ???? ?? ? 1? ??)
- Report of Lost Passport or a statement that explains why the passport should be reissued.
- Photo
- Application fees
- A document that proves a legal status in the country the applicant is applying or a statement that explains why the applicant cannot prove his/her legal status in the country
- Additional documents might be required depending on the embassies or consulates.
Maps Republic of Korea passport
Types
- Ordinary passport: Issued to normal citizens.
Ordinary passports are issued for one, five, or ten years of validity.
- Official passport: Issued to members of the National Assembly and civil servants.
- Diplomatic passport: Issued to diplomats and nationals who serve under diplomatic terms are given this special passport. These passports guarantee special treatment in other countries.
Physical appearance
South Korean passports are dark green, with the National Emblem of the Republic of Korea emblazoned in gold in the centre of the front cover. The word '????' (Korean) and 'REPUBLIC OF KOREA' (English) are inscribed above the Emblem whereas '??' (Korean), 'PASSPORT' (English) and the international e-passport symbol () are inscribed below the Emblem.
Difference with DPRK passport
In North Korea the word is spelled ?? (lyeogwon), whereas in South Korea the same word is written ?? (yeogwon).
Identity Information Page
- Photo of the passport holder
- Type (PM or PR or PS) PM passports can be used for multiple entries while PS passports are valid for a single entry. PR passports are for Koreans who are permanent residents of countries other than Korea.. However, the PR type passport has been abolished as of 2017/12/21 and permanent residents of other countries now get a normal passport
- Issuing country code - KOR
- Passport number (Includes a total of nine digits. In the newly issued passports starting August 25, 2008, the Passport Number will retain the same 9 digits but the Issued Local code will be changed to a single letter M noting PM passports and S for PS passports. The rest of the 8 digits will be the serial number.)
- Surname - (Passports from many other nations such as Bulgaria and Greece have the names to be written in local script then in the Latin alphabet. However, in a Korean passport, only the Latin alphabet is permitted for use in the Surname and Given name sections. Their local script name is written in the Hangul name section.)
- Given names
- Nationality - Republic of Korea (Despite the 'Framework Act on the National Language' law stating that all official documents must be written in Hangul, the official script of the Republic of Korea, Nationality is not written in Hangul. According to the law, scripts other than Hangul can be used in parentheses after the counterpart written in Hangul and such usage must be permitted under a presidential decree.)
- Date of birth
- Date of issue
- Date of expiry
- Sex
- Personal ID number (Resident registration number of South Korea); however, South Korean passports issued to Zainichi Koreans do not have resident registration numbers, reflecting their statutory exemption from taxation and conscription in South Korea (Conversely, Zainichi Koreans were not allowed to vote. However, from 2012, all Korean passport holders are eligible to vote, and in 2015, Zainichi Koreans were allowed to obtain a resident registration number regardless of their statutory exemptions).
- Issuing authority - Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Hangul name
Passport note
The note inside Republic of Korea passports are written in both Korean and English. The message in the passport, written by the South Korea's Minister of Foreign Affairs, states:
In Korean:
- ???? ??? ? ?????? ?? ?? ?? ??? ? ??? ?? ??? ??? ?? ?? ? ??? ??? ?? ?? ??? ???? ?????.
In English:
- The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea requests all whom it may concern to permit the bearer, a national of the Republic of Korea, to pass freely without delay or hindrance and to give every possible assistance and protection in case of need.
Languages
The textual portions of passports is printed in both English and Korean.
Biometric passport
The Korean government has been issuing biometric passports since February 2008 for diplomats and government officials. They have been issuing this type of passports to all of their citizens since August 25, 2008.
Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs formed the 'Committee for promoting e-passports' in April 2006, and it was scheduled to issue biometric passports in the second half of 2008. On September 4, 2007, the media reported that the Korean government decided to revise its passport law to issue biometric passports which include fingerprint information, first to the diplomats in the first quarter of 2008, and the rest of the public in the second half of the year. Some civil liberties have caused some controversy over the fingerprinting requirement because the ICAO only requires a photograph be recorded on the chip.
On February 26, 2008, the Korean National Assembly passed a revision of the passport law. A new biometric passport was issued to diplomats in March, and to the general public shortly thereafter. Fingerprinting measures would not be implemented immediately; however, they began January 1, 2010.
The appearance of the new biometric passports is almost identical to the former machine-readable versions, and they both have 48 pages. However, the space for visas was reduced by six pages. These pages are now reserved for identification purposes, notices and other information, as well as the bearer's contacts. In the new biometric passports, the main identification page has moved to the second page from inside the front cover. The note from the Foreign Affairs Minister is still shown on the front page and the signature is shown on the page after photo identification.
The new biometric passport incorporates many security features such as colour shifting ink, hologram, ghost image, infrared ink, intaglio, laser perforation of the passport number (from the third page to the back cover), latent image, microprinting, security thread, solvent sensitive ink, and steganography.
Inside the backcover, a caution for the biometric chip is written both in Korean,
"?? - ? ???? ??? ???? ???? ????. ??? ??? ?? ?? ?? ?? ??(??,??)?? ??? ??? ??? ? ??? ??? ???? ??? ????."
and in English,
"This passport contains sensitive electronics, For best performance please do not bend, perforate or expose to extreme temperatures or excess moisture."
The passport holders' contact information that was originally held inside the backcover has also been moved to the last page of the new passport.
Production
As of January 2009, the Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation takes eight hours to produce the new biometric passport and is capable of producing 26,500 passports per day.
Visa free travel
Visa requirements for South Korean citizens are administrative entry restrictions by the authorities of other states placed on citizens of Republic of Korea. As of 23 May 2018, South Korean citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 187 countries and territories, ranking the South Korean passport third in the world in terms of travel freedom (tied with the Danish, Finnish, French, Italian, Spanish and Swedish passports) according to the Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index. Additionally, Arton Capital's Passport Index currently rank the South Korean passport third in the world in terms of travel freedom, with a visa-free score of 163 (tied with Danish, Dutch, French, Finnish, Italian, Japanese, Luxembourgish, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish and United States passports), as of 2 July 2018.
As of July 2018, the passports of South Korea, Brunei and Chile are the only ones to provide visa-free access to all G8 countries.
Inter-Korea travel
The Republic of Korea's constitution considers the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as part of its territory, although under a different administration. In other words, the South does not view going to and from the North as breaking the continuity of a person's stay, as long as the traveler does not land on a third territory.
However, because of the political situation between the South and the isolated socialist Juche government of North Korea, it is almost impossible to enter the North from the South across the Korean DMZ (exiting South Korea via the northern border). Tourists wishing to enter North Korea have to pass through another country, and most enter from China, because most flights to/from Pyongyang serve Beijing.
South Koreans are generally not allowed to visit North Korea, except with special authorizations granted by the Ministry of Unification and North Korean authorities on a limited basis (e.g. workers and businessmen visiting or commuting to/from Kaesong Industrial Complex). South Koreans who are allowed to visit North Korea are issued a North Korean visa on a separate sheet of paper, not in the Republic of Korea passport. The Republic of Korea passport can be used to enter North Korea, because passport is one of the government's approved identity documents, but it is being only to prove the bearer's identity, not to determine the bearer's legal residence. South Koreans can also use other government approved identity documents such as National ID Card and Driver's License, because the South Korean government treats North Korea as part of South Korea and expects South Korean IDs to be accepted.
In 1998, visa-free travel to the tourist resort of Mount Kumgang and the Kaesong Industrial Region was made possible under the "sunshine policy" orchestrated by South Korean President Kim Dae-jung. Those wishing to travel across the DMZ were given special travel certificates issued by the Ministry of Unification through Hyundai Asan. In July 2008, a female tourist named Park Wang-ja was shot to death by a North Korean guard on a beach near Mount Kumgang, which led to the suspension of the tours. As of March 2010 all travel across the DMZ has now been suspended due to increasing tensions between North and South Korea. However in 2018, Kim Jong-un and others went to South Korea through the DMZ and met up with South Korean officials. They discussed reunification..
There are 4 land border checkpoints in South Korea for inter-Korea travel.
Restricted nations
The South Korean government has banned Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen as travel destinations for safety.
See also
- Biometric passports
- List of passports
- Visa Waiver Program
- South Korean nationality law
- Visa requirements for South Korean citizens
- Korean Empire passport
- North Korea passport
Notes
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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