Incheon International Airport immigration authorities announced Sunday that it had deported 23 Chinese people for attempting to enter the country illegally. The 23 were part of a group of 66 "tourists" accompanied by two Chinese guides. The authorities said that immediately after processing 43 of the supposed tourists evaded a tourist company's staff and bus, and their two guides and disappeared into the city.

The Immigration Control Office has started a crackdown on unlawful immigrants with regard to an expected rush of Chinese visitors during the 2002 World Cup. It was found that the "tourists" who arrived for a four-day visit to South Korea pretended they were teachers to disguise their social status in an attempt to stay illegally.

(Kim Seung-beom, sbkim@chosun.com )