Travelers wait in long security lines at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, March 27. Korean lawmakers have introduced legislation to activate a long-dormant crime data-sharing pact with the United States, as Seoul seeks to safeguard its visa-waiver status amid recent shifts in U.S. immigration and security policy. AFP-Yonhap
Korea’s ruling party lawmakers have introduced legislation to activate a long-dormant crime data-sharing pact with the United States, as Seoul seeks to safeguard its visa waiver status amid recent shifts in U.S. immigration and security policy.
The bill, led by Rep. Lee Sang-sik of the Democratic Party of Korea, would create a detailed domestic legal framework to implement the 2008 “Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Korea and the Government of the United States of America on Enhancing Cooperation to Prevent and Combat Crime.”
Korea inked the accord in November that year as a condition for joining the U.S. Visa Waiver Program (VWP), which would allow Korean citizens to travel to the U.S. for tourism or business for up to 90 days without a visa. The National Assembly ratified it the following month, but it has remained largely dormant since.
Asked why lawmakers are suddenly moving now, after the agreement sat idle for more than 15 years, Lee’s aide said the core obstacle was the difference between the two nations’ legal systems — and that the move also comes amid U.S. requests that Seoul speed up implementation.
“What I understand is that, when that agreement came up in the context of U.S. reviews of Korea’s VWP status, the U.S. signaled that it was time for Korea to start implementing it,” he told The Korea Times. “The National Police Agency (NPA), which serves as Korea’s contact point for the pact, then asked our office for cooperation and that led to the bill.”
This comes as U.S. authorities in recent years have pressed VWP partners to grant broader access to national databases for routine traveler screening, tightening control over who is allowed into the country.
According to the aide, the NPA and the FBI have now agreed on which categories of criminal record data should be shared, clearing the way for domestic implementation of legislation.
Under the proposal, information to be shared would be defined to include a person’s name, fingerprints and criminal record data. Korea would limit what it shares to records on people convicted of serious crimes punishable by prison terms of more than one year, rather than opening up its entire criminal database. To make those checks possible at the border, the bill would authorize the creation of an electronic system for real‑time checks.
The proposal would also allow for the creation of a separate data‑sharing system specifically for high‑risk individuals, including people suspected of planning or participating in terrorist acts and members of serious criminal organizations.
To address civil liberties concerns, the draft includes obligations to log and preserve records of all processing of implementation information, prohibit its use for purposes other than those stipulated in the agreement, require technical and administrative security safeguards and mandate immediate destruction of data once the stated purpose has been achieved.
It would also authorize the commissioner general of the NPA to set up a joint consultative body with the U.S. side to work out technical details of the data exchange and review any problems that may emerge in practice.
“Recently, the two governments agreed on the scope of information to be exchanged and, as swift implementation of the pact has come to be seen as necessary to maintain Korea’s VWP status amid changes in U.S. immigration policy, this bill seeks to set up a legal basis for carrying out the agreement,” the bill’s sponsors said.
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