Fraudulent Use of Sister's Passport and Illegal Boarding Pass Issuance Reveal Security Lapses at Gimhae Airport

"Need to Review Shortcomings in Aviation Security Systems"

There is growing demand to strengthen airport security at critical national facilities by addressing shortcomings in aviation security systems, such as the fraudulent use of boarding passes and passport misuse.

Gimhae Airport International Terminal.

According to data submitted by Yonggap Park, a member of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Korea Airports Corporation on October 26, an incident occurred in May at Gimhae International Airport’s domestic terminal. An employee of a ground handling service company claimed to have left their official access pass at home and had a colleague illegally issue a boarding pass in their name. The employee then disguised themselves as a passenger to access the restricted area. However, the Aviation Security Act does not contain any provisions that directly prohibit or penalize the fraudulent issuance or use of boarding passes.

Park emphasized that, according to two legal opinions obtained by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport after the incident, both concluded that the current Aviation Security Act lacks specific regulations banning or penalizing the fraudulent issuance and use of boarding passes.

There was also a case in February involving the misuse of a passport by a minor attempting to board a flight to China using her older sister’s passport. The minor, born in 2009, was caught after attempting to board the flight with her sister’s passport. Investigations revealed that she passed through three checkpoints at Gimhae Airport’s international terminal: the manned identity verification desk, the security checkpoint, and the Ministry of Justice’s manned inspection desk.

In particular, the Ministry of Justice’s manned inspection desk did not have biometric verification procedures such as fingerprint or facial recognition. Instead, identity was checked only visually, exposing a vulnerability in passenger identification. As a result, Gimhae Airport staff were unable to determine whether the passport holder and the passenger were the same individual.

Ultimately, the airport authorities only became aware of the passport misuse about two hours later, after the minor’s parents reported the incident.

Yonggap Park, Member of the National Assembly from the Democratic Party of Korea.

Park stated, "There must not be even the slightest gap in airport security, as airports are critical national facilities," and urged authorities to review deficiencies in aviation security systems in light of the recent incidents of 'fraudulent use of boarding passes' and 'passport misuse' at Gimhae Airport.