Going on a holiday abroad can be exciting but sometimes things don’t go as plan like this group of young adults who were detained for two days at Seoul Airport for unspecified reasons despite having all the necessary documents with them. They were sent back straight home without being able to enjoy their holiday which they had prepared months in advance and unfortunately, the same thing happened again to this young lady and her friend.
Yesterday (Thursday, 12th October), TikTok user @beeemyfweeen posted a video of her and her friend at Incheon International Airport with a caption that reads, “Immigration at Korea asked us to go back. We can’t enter Korea without any valid reason”. This has led many netizens to ask for an explanation as to why she was not allowed in.
https://www.tiktok.com/@beeemyfweeen/video/7288824564661062913?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7281524032574211585
The Malaysian tourist then posted a series of photos to detail what exactly happened. She shared that as soon as she and her friend arrived at immigration, an officer asked why her passport had no travel history on it. She explained to him that she had just renewed her passport and even showed him the hardcopy K-ETA, which she applied for online. When asked if she had her old passport with her, she answered no before being instructed to follow another officer.
The officers interviewed the traveller and concluded that she was not prepared for the trip despite her presenting the itinerary, flight tickets, hotel bookings and other necessary documents. “In the end, they asked us to go back to Malaysia and kept us in an area surrounded by foreigners who can’t speak English,” she wrote. The young woman then contacted the Malaysian Embassy for assistance but unfortunately, there was not much they could do as the Korean immigration officers refused to communicate.
Luckily, @beeemyfweeen and her friend got a free flight back home since they had already bought return tickets prior to their trip. Although she didn’t get to enjoy her holiday as planned, she said that she’ll take this experience as a lesson to be better prepared in the future.
The TikTok post went viral with many sympathising with the two friends. Some were wondering if it was a new policy for tourists to bring an old passport along as they’ve never had that experience before when travelling to Korea.
While we may never know if there was actually a valid reason that the two Malaysians were denied entry, let’s still take this as a lesson to bring our old passports along with us just in case they need further verifications of our identity.
Source: TikTok
