Worries on Increasing Chinese Disguised as Tourists during World Cup Game

It is expected that many Chinese will rush to Korea for illegal residency by disguising themselves as `World Cup tourists` during the World Cup games in June 2002. Thus emergency measures against these pretending tourists are necessary.

While the expected illegal sojourners from the South Asian and Middle Eastern countries are problem, those from China are considered more seriously because the Chinese soccer team, which became a finalist team for the first time, will play in Korea.

It is highly possible that many Korean-Chinese and Chinese will come to Korea for illegal sojourn with the Chinese tourists for the World Cup 2002, who are expecting more than 100,000 people.

Rev. Suh Gyung-Seok of the Seoul Korean-Chinese Church anticipated with worries that, "Current illegal Korean-Chinese sojourners are estimated 150,000-200,000, and the number will increase with at least tens of thousands of people after the World Cup. This will become a serious social problem."

An official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said, "If Korea host the World Cup without any measures against false tourists, the problem of the illegal sojourners will remain as an aftermath."

Any Chinese can legally enter into Korea with a World Cup admission ticket, which cost less than 100.000 won, instead of huge amount of broker fee and life-risky stowing away. Telephone inquires for purchasing admission tickets have already poured in the tourist agencies in China, the Korean diplomatic and consular offices in China, and the Korean-Chinese in Korea.

Wang-li, the Beijing branch manager of the Young Chinese Travel Agency, said, "I receive dozens of phone calls asking how to purchase the admissions of the World Cup games in Korea. Because the travel price to Korea is cheaper than that of Japan, the soccer fans are eagerly want to go to Korea."

According to an official of the Korean Consulates in China, a rumor that `an admission ticket is an entry visa to Korea` is widely spreading in Beijing and Shenyang. Thus, the telephone inquires are rushing to the consulate offices in order to ask about the purchasing of admission tickets.

A Korean-Chinese Lee (34), working at the Guro industrial complex in Seoul, said, "I heard that many Chinese are desperate to buy an admission ticket even paying dozen times over premium in China. I also received many telephone calls from family members and relatives in China who asked how to buy the admission tickets."

Recognizing the seriousness of the problem, the government already had few related ministries` meetings to prepare the proper measures. But the government does not have clear solutions yet because there are no legitimate reasons to restrict the issuing of entry visa and to limit the entrance to the foreigners who have the admission tickets of the World Cup.

An official of the Korean Consulates in China said, "If one request an entry visa to see the World Cup games, there is no reason to reject it, and it is almost impossible to distinguish the pretending tourists."

If the government strengthens the entrance examination to prevent the entry of illegal sojourners, it is likely to raise the criticism that the government discourages the festival mood of the World Cup. Thus, the preparation of measures is more difficult.

An official of the Ministry of Justice said, "It is almost impossible to screen out illegal sojourners from hundreds of thousands of Chinese tourists. Because of the successful holding of the World Cup and the problem of the illegal sojourners are the two sides of a same coin, the preparation of measures is really difficult."

Sang-Ho Yun ysh1005@donga.com