Tag: Incheon International Airport

U.S. Ambassador Harry Harris visited Incheon International Airport on Wednesday to see how fever checks on U.S.-bound passengers are going, a day after South Korea’s government took over the anti-coronavirus screening mission from airlines.

Harris visited a boarding gate in the Second Terminal of the airport, west of Seoul, and observed officials taking the temperatures of passengers of an Atlanta-bound Korean Air plane and received a briefing about the screening process.

“Terrific visit to Incheon Airport to see 1st-hand ROKG measures to combat COVID-19 & mgmt of travelers to USA. Impressed w/ROK’s robust & comprehensive response efforts to limit the virus’ spread. Thanks to all for the hard work,” he wrote in his Twitter account afterwards. 

On Tuesday, the government said it will take over the anti-coronavirus screening mission from airlines and conduct health examinations on passengers boarding flights to the U.S. from the Incheon airport and Gimhae International Airport in the southeastern city of Busan.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This is another example of South Korea being quick to adapt new technology:

Incheon International Airport is set to become the first airport in the world to run self-driving cars starting at the second half of next year.

The Incheon International Airport Corporation said on Friday it will conduct a three-month trial run during the first half of 2020, before operating two autonomous vehicles in the second half.

The project aims to promote smart technologies at the airport.

While priority for the use of the driverless cars will be given to seniors and people with disabilities, all passengers will be able to access them at terminal arrival gates and immigration checkpoints.

Users will be able to insert their destinations on the vehicle’s touch screen or place their flight tickets on a separate device within the vehicle.

KBS World Radio

Via a reader tip comes this article showing the amount of illegal weapons that are seized at airports in South Korea:

Nineteen people have been caught this year trying to bring guns onto planes in Korea, a sharp increase from just one from last year.

According to Rep. Park Wan-su of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, Monday, 25 such cases occurred at airports across the country between January 2014 and this September.

The number changed little from two in 2014 to three in 2015 and one in 2016, but it has soared at an alarming rate over the past nine months.

During that period, 25 guns, 1,368 bullets, 395 knives and 1,374 other weapons such as stun guns have been seized.

“All the nation’s airports and related institutions should beef up their security in response to an increasing number of such attempts,” Park said.

According to Rep. Park Chan-woo of the same party, 34 people were caught at Incheon International Airport trying to smuggle guns into the country between January 2012 and this August.

During that period, 2,819 illegal weapons, including 1,483 bullets and 426 knives, were seized. The lawmaker said 45.8 percent of them came from the United States.   [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but I wonder how many of these guns found are from people forgetting they had one packed in their bag or were they legitimately trying to smuggle it into Korea?

It is going to be interesting to see how useful these robots will be for travelers in such a busy airport:

https://twitter.com/pearswick/status/736135386162860033

This is an artist’s rendering of the second passenger terminal under construction at Incheon International Airport, a main gateway to Seoul. Its topping-out ceremony was held on April 26, 2016. With the completion of the new terminal, located right next to the existing one, next year, the airport will be able to handle 72 million passengers and 5.8 million tons of air cargo per year. (Yonhap)