By Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporter

The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) on Friday admitted that the government has issued a total of 154,191 passports implanted with erroneous identification codes.

The problematic passports were issued by local governments and two overseas missions, including the South Korean Embassy in Japan, between October 2000 and July 2002, they said.

In some cases, the holders of the passports were denied entry when traveling overseas, BAI officials said.

The passports in question contained wrong information such as nationality, date of birth and passport number, the top auditor said, attributing it to the problem in software used to implant coded data into the passports to prevent forgery.

The high-tech passports are called Machine Readable Passports. South Korea started to issue the forgery-proof passports in 1999 in compliance with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a global governing body.

The BAI ordered the Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry to recall all the passports and reissue new ones to their holders.

In addition, the watchdog also found that some public servants at overseas missions were involved in illegally issuing visas to applicants who did not qualify, and requested the ministry to punish them.

yoonwonsup@kroeatimes.co.kr