Korean passengers will be able to travel to Jeju Island from Gimpo International Airport, western Seoul, by going through this unmanned biometrics-based identification gateway beginning Jan. 29. But they still need to bring their ID cards when traveling to other domestic destinations. Courtesy of Korea Airport Corp.



By Kim Jae-heun



Koreans will no longer need to possess any form of identification for travel between Gimpo and Jeju Island by plane, beginning Jan. 29.



The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Korea Airports Corporation have agreed to install a new identification system utilizing passengers' biometric information instead of identity cards.



The new system will allow faster boarding procedures, and remove previous human errors made from time to time, while reinforcing airport security. It will also solve the problems of inconvenience for passengers who have forgotten or lost their identification cards.



To use the system, travelers are required to register their finger prints or palm vein patterns in advance at passenger terminal buildings in Gimpo or Jeju international airports, each located on the third floor. Both Gimpo and Jeju airports have already begun registration.



Only Korean citizens over 14 years old are allowed to use the new identification procedure and they are required to bring their ID card for registration. After registration, they can travel without the ID card. Those who have registered their biometric information will enter straight into the transit security check area through exclusive gates.



The Korea Airport Corporation will test the service on the Gimpo to Jeju route first, the most popular domestic travel line, and expand it to other domestic airports in Busan, Daegu and Cheongju within this year.



A number of global airports have adopted hi-tech identification systems using biometric information such as finger prints, and face and iris recognition. These include Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport and Heathrow Airport in England, but Korea is the first country to adopt machines scanning palm vein patterns to identify a person.



"Identification by scanning a person's palm veins is free from restraints such as color lens, temperature and humidity and it has the advantage of being impossible to fake," a Korea Airports official said.



The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Korea Airports Corporation have introduced the new system as part of an effort to improve technology at local airports as they reported to the Fourth Industrial Revolution Committee last December.



The two organizations will install futuristic systems such as artificial intelligence (AI) robots, and ones that use big data and the internet of things to fully automate airports.

