Check-in staff at departure airports have refused to allow regular visitors to South Korea to board flights to Seoul due to not having newly required paperwork, an oversight several blamed on poor efforts to publicize the requirement.

A dozen travelers told Korea Pro that they arrived at their airports unaware of the Korea Electronic Authorization (K-ETA) system, with ten denied boarding and two able to file a last-minute application. 

A Korea Pro investigation found that as of last week many ROK foreign ministry websites still made no mention of the need to have K-ETA paperwork processed before departing for Incheon International Airport.

South Korea introduced the K-ETA system in Sept. 2021 as part of efforts to limit the spread of COVID-19, requiring visitors to disclose personal information including the itinerary of their last two weeks of travel. Applying costs 10,000 won (US$7.79) per person.

While the government describes the system as automatic, processing times are reportedly erratic. One applicant told Korea Pro it took four days to receive travel confirmation, while others reported getting approved in less than five minutes.

“I was attempting to fly to Seoul and was denied boarding by a major international airline at a major European airport because I did not have a ‘visa,’” said Evans Revere, a senior adviser with the Albright Stonebridge Group and former deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in South Korea.

“Incredulous, I patiently explained to the airline representative at the gate that U.S. citizens did not need a visa to travel to Korea,” Revere told Korea Pro, recounting that he was only then informed of a new “visa requirement.”

One staffer at a major U.S. nongovernmental organization and former resident of South Korea confirmed that they were also denied boarding.

“In sum, I don’t think the information was properly shared,” the traveler explained, requesting anonymity due to lack of employer authorization to speak to media. “It should be more prominently displayed on the Korean Embassy website (and) the airlines should notify passengers of the requirements, especially Korean carriers.”

While a Korea Pro investigation shows that South Korean embassy and consulate websites are increasingly publicizing K-ETA requirements, out-of-date guidance that doesn’t mention K-ETA was still on dozens of foreign ministry websites targeting visitors from countries around the world.

For example, the Korean consulate in Houston, Texas still informs prospective tourists that “A U.S citizen with a valid passport can visit the Republic of Korea without a visa for 90 days for the purpose of tourism or visitation,” with no mention of the K-ETA requirement in either the short- or long-term visa guidance sections.

In one case, a notice updated as recently as May 2022 on the website of the South Korean Embassy in the Philippines made no mention of the K-ETA system.

Some who flew to South Korea recently on Korean flag carriers told Korea Pro that the airline informed them in advance about the K-ETA requirement, though not always with prominent and clear messaging. 

Korean Air, for example, features an interactive tool that provides a K-ETA link in the “visa requirements” section. But the section appears easy to overlook for travelers like U.S. nationals who have visited South Korea for years without a visa.

Meanwhile, the justice ministry’s official K-ETA app has received an average of just 1.3 stars from 274 reviews, with many users complaining they couldn’t even enter text to complete fields necessary to complete their application. 

“No keyboard shows to type information,” wrote Ae Soon Lee. “Embarrassing for an app that is requiring government ID.” Another reviewer wrote, “I can’t even pass (the) instructions page.”

DISRUPTED PLANS

For those turned away at check-in desks, arriving at the airport without a K-ETA can upend meeting schedules and force them to rebook flights at a time when tickets are especially expensive.

“(K-ETA) makes it highly unlikely that I will be traveling to Korea any time soon,” said Revere, the former deputy chief at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul. 

South Korea’s Ministry of Justice, which oversees the K-ETA system, told Korea Pro it has no data on the number of people rejected from flights and said it feels it has communicated the new requirements sufficiently.

“Currently, K-ETA information can be found posted on the websites such as the Korean Embassy in the U.S., the Ministry of Justice, the Korea Immigration Service and various airlines,” a ministry spokesperson said. “We will make efforts to further promote the K-ETA policy.”

Asked about embassy and consulate websites with outdated information, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Seoul will instruct them to conduct “additional promotion” of K-ETA requirements to potential travelers to Korea.

The justice ministry spokesperson added that those who show up at the airport without K-ETA paperwork can apply online and “generally” get confirmation within 30 minutes — a timeline some travelers said was at odds with their experience of dayslong waits.

Not everyone believes the problem lies with South Korea’s government, however.

“Isn’t it like normal to look these things up online before traveling?” the Korea Herald’s Hyunsu Yim tweeted in May.

Edited by Bryan Betts