VIETNAMESE GO MISSING FOR ILLEGAL STAY

[Anchor Lead]

Some 60 Vietnamese tourists who arrived in Korea via Yangyang International Airport in Gangwon-do Province under a visa-waiver program have gone missing, apparently attempting to stay in Korea illegally. This has led authorities to suspend flights between Yangyang and Vietnam through the end of this month.

[Pkg]

Airport check-in counters are deserted. Regular flights between Yangyang, Gangwon-do Province, and Hanoi as well as Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, have been suspended through the end of October. One of the airlines had to suspend flights between Yangyang and Vietnam just two weeks after their launch. The move comes after 67 Vietnamese tourists who entered Korea visa-free became out of reach on October 13. Visa-free tourists are only allowed group tours, but contact with them was lost when they were visiting amusement parks and shopping malls.

[Soundbite] (Travel agency staff (VOICE MODIFIED)) : "I heard there were supposed to be 180 tourists but only half of them showed up at the shopping mall."

Gangwon-do Province believes the tourists used the visa-waiver program, which began in June, to stay in Korea illegally. The provincial government urged local travel agencies in Vietnam to screen tourists thoroughly and avoid those who may cut contact and disappear. It also urged travel agencies in Korea to intensify control of tourists.

[Soundbite] Shim Won-sup(Gangwon-do Prov. gov’t) : "The visa-waiver program was introduced to boost the regional economy. The Ministry of Justice and travel agencies in Gangwon-do Prov. should discuss measures to prevent the program from being scrapped."

The Justice Ministry is cancelling designations as exclusive travel agencies for agencies where more than 10 percent of foreigners cut contact and disappeared, and began looking for these tourists who severed contact after arriving in Korea. An investigation has also been launched into the possibility of brokers helping foreigners stay in Korea illegally.