The general public information director at South Korea’s inside ministry says entry to the nation’s nationwide ID database was restored earlier than a visa-free scheme for Chinese language vacationers got here into impact, contradicting posts pushing conspiracy theories that the disruption allowed them to avoid a ban on vacationers from opening a cell phone account. The official and the Ministry of Science and ICT say the momentary outage additionally didn’t take away a authorized requirement for telecom suppliers to confirm subscribers’ nationwide ID quantity or alien registration quantity.
The declare was shared in an October 11 X put up by US-based activist Tara O, who has beforehand unfold conspiratorial claims about supposed Chinese language political affect in South Korea.
Her put up reads: “ID not required to open a cell phone account in South Korea ‘resulting from hearth at NIRS’ (information heart). So all these no-visa entry Chinese language can get cell telephones. What may go improper?”
O’s put up quotes one other X put up alleging that, as a result of ID verification methods have been down, cell retailers obtained notices to “activate telephones first and confirm later,” successfully permitting “solid, expired or broken IDs” for use legally.
The quoted put up described it as “authorized burner-phone day” and claimed it conveniently coincided with the beginning of a visa-free entry scheme for Chinese language vacationers (archived hyperlink).
Screenshot of the false X put up captured on October 13, 2025, with a pink X added by AFP
South Korea has seen a spike in anti-China sentiment since former president Yoon Suk Yeol’s failed declaration of martial regulation and subsequent impeachment (archived hyperlink). AFP has debunked different posts falsely claiming Chinese language vacationers may enter the nation with none immigration necessities.
Claims alleging that the info heart outage allowed visa-free Chinese language vacationers to create “burner telephones” for unlawful actions resembling drug gross sales additionally appeared on Threads and Fb.
They circulated after the September 26 hearth on the Nationwide Data Assets Service (NIRS) in Daejeon disrupted elements of South Korea’s authorities information community, together with entry to the nationwide ID database (archived hyperlink).
Below the Telecommunications Enterprise Act, South Korean cell subscribers should confirm their identification utilizing an official doc resembling a resident registration card, driver’s licence, passport, or alien registration card when signing a telecom contract (archived hyperlink).
This real-name verification system was launched to curb fraud and phone-based crimes, making certain that every cell account is tied to a verifiable identification.
Quick-term guests and visa-free vacationers can use pay as you go SIM playing cards however can not open cell phone accounts, as solely residents with a sound Alien Registration Card are eligible (archived hyperlink).
The Chosun Ilbo reported that roughly 150,000 cell phone accounts have been activated with out full ID verification following the NIRS hearth earlier than the system was restored, citing information submitted to an opposition lawmaker by telecom corporations (archived hyperlink).
System restored
However the Inside Ministry’s public information director Bae Il-gwon informed AFP the disruption was temporary and totally restored by September 29 — the identical day the visa-free entry programme for Chinese language group vacationers started.
“There aren’t any issues now. The system was restored on the twenty ninth,” Bae mentioned on October 13, including that in the course of the downtime, cell shops nonetheless carried out identification checks.
“There are a number of methods to confirm identification. Shops continued the traditional verification course of, however they quickly couldn’t cross-check if an ID was real by means of the federal government database — that half was executed later as soon as the system got here again on-line,” he mentioned.
In response to each Bae and the Ministry of Science and ICT, the NIRS outage didn’t take away the authorized requirement for verification.
Spokespeople from South Korea’s three main telecom corporations — SK Telecom, KT and LG U+ — informed AFP, “the method was quickly switched to an ‘activate first, confirm later’ process till the system was totally restored”.
One among them added that “from October 1, we accomplished sequential post-verification procedures, and most accounts have been discovered to belong to reliable subscribers” and that “for the few instances that didn’t match, we plan to reverify or cancel plans instantly.”
Instances of so-called “burner telephones” in South Korea usually contain brokers misusing registered foreigners’ IDs — an issue that predates each the NIRS hearth and the visa-free coverage (archived hyperlink).
