Prompted by a video of Jang Won-young departing from Gimpo Airport, a civil complaint asking Korea Airports Corporation to clarify the criteria for identity verification at airports has been filed. Yonhap News

A controversy over the demeanor of IVE member Jang Won-young during departure at Gimpo Airport has developed into a civil complaint to Korea Airports Corporation. The issue is not the attitude of a particular member, but a request to examine “what criteria the airport uses for identity verification.”

On the 15th, it was confirmed that a civil complaint requesting that the standards and official guidance for identity verification procedures at the international departures hall of Gimpo International Airport be made more concrete was submitted to the Security Management Department of the Gimpo Airport Operations Division at Korea Airports Corporation.

The complainant noted that, in the case of Incheon International Airport, there is separate guidance at departures requiring passengers to remove mask·hat·sunglasses to confirm identity match, and asked whether that standard is applied uniformly across airports under the jurisdiction of Korea Airports Corporation and whether passengers can easily check this as official guidance. The corporation plans to process the complaint by the 23rd.

This complaint originated from a video of Jang Won-young departing from Gimpo Airport. On the 30th of last month, she departed for Shanghai, China via Gimpo International Airport and underwent identity verification by an airport employee. When the employee asked her to lower her mask to compare her face with her passport, Jang lifted her cap and lowered her mask to comply with the procedure. However, some argued that she responded insincerely to this procedure, and it grew into a ‘demeanor controversy’.

The complainant requested, stating, “If this is a procedure that passengers must actually follow, it should be easy for anyone to confirm,” that if there is a regulation requiring removal of mask·hat·sunglasses, the regulation name and the responsible department·clause be specified, and asked for an explanation of whether it is applied uniformly to all passengers across airports under its jurisdiction, including Gimpo Airport. The complainant also pointed out that ambiguity in the rules increases the workload of employees.

Furthermore, the complainant asked that it also be confirmed “whether the same standards are applied to all passengers regardless of social status or recognition, such as politicians·businesspeople·celebrities.”

Article 15-3 of the current Enforcement Decree of the Aviation Security Act provides that airport operators confirm identity by comparing boarding passes with identification documents and, if confirmation is difficult based on a photograph alone, may make additional checks such as questioning. In practice, at the first stage of security screening, Incheon International Airport explicitly states in its notice that ‘for identity matching, temporarily remove mask·hat·sunglasses.’