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Korean travelers to Finland have their easy-to-forge old passports to thank if they face questions on entry that would elicit a sneer from an elementary student. ¡°What is Korea's second largest city?" is one. "Write the name of the president of Korea," is another. One afternoon last week, the Chosun Ilbo observed the comings and goings at the Russo-Finnish border, where most visitors to the Nordic state are Russians but a few Koreans can also be found. But are they really Koreans?
To find out, border guards took away the passports of the Russian citizens in a bundle but passed out sheets of A4 paper to the Koreans. They bore 20 questions, in Korean, that also included, "Where is Mt. Halla?" and "What sport does Park Chan-ho play?" For those who enter the country by train, the test is administered in a room, while those arriving by bus are called in one by one to verify their Korean citizenship. Care is taken to ensure that the test is taken in a relatively relaxed atmosphere.
Finnish authorities took to administering the test last year because a growing number of Asians, mainly Chinese, enter the northernmost gateway to the EU on forged or altered Korean passports. The reason Chinese traffickers prize Korean passports so highly is that Koreans can enter the EU with relative ease and travel freely across the continent.
Since Finland has a visa exemption treaty with Korea, Korean travelers are usually confused when faced with the unexpected test. Border guards say they start investigating when it is clear that travelers cannot write Korean or answer the questions. The majority of people found with forged documents carry fake Korean passports, they point out.
Among the countries bordering Russia, the Baltic state of Estonia was the first to introduce such a test. Just a couple of hours drive or train ride away from St. Petersburg, Estonia is optimal for travel to Europe for Korean tourists.
The Korean ambassador to Russia and Finland says the embassy gets frequent calls from Estonia and Finland asking it to confirm the authenticity of Korean passports. ¡°There are many Chinese who buy Korean passports, which are trafficked though Southeast Asia or China, and simply replace the pictures,¡± he says.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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