The U.S. Department of Homeland Security forwarded to the Ministry of Justice a list of 21 American child sex offenders known to travel frequently to Asian countries. The ministry immediately decided to permanently blacklist the offenders from entering Korea.

The U.S. has begun providing a list of child sex offenders to Asian nations such as Thailand in order to crack down on Americans traveling abroad for sex tourism. South Korea is among the nations receiving the list.

A ministry official said American sex offenders could commit sex crimes against children while teaching English at private institutes in Korea, so the moment the list was received all the offenders were banned.

(englishnews@chosun.com )