The outflow of South Korean data was not surpassed by the influx of Chinese tourists
The director of public data at South Korea’s Interior Ministry says that access to the national national ID has been restored before it began to deal with the system of interference that the interference began to prevent the avoidance of the phone account. The official and the Ministry of Science and ICT said the temporary exit also did not remove the legal requirement for telecom providers to verify subscribers’ national ID number or alien registration number.
The claim was shared on the October 11 X Post by US-based activist Tara O, who has previously spread conspiratorial claims about China’s political influence in South Korea.
His post read: “ID NOT WANT TO OPEN A CELLPHONE ACCOUNT IN SOUTH KOREA ‘Due To Fire At Nirs’ (Data Center). What went wrong?”
The o post quotes another X Post It is alleged that, because the ID verification systems have gone down, the leading stores receive notices that “Activate the phones first and verify later,” allowing “outdated” IDs that will be damaged “to be used legally.
The post cited was described as “Legal New Day” and claimed it coincided with the start of the visa-free entry scheme for Chinese tourists (link saved).
FALSE X Post screenshots stitched on October 13, 2025, with red X added by AFP
South Korea has seen a sponge in the nature of anti-china since the president’s failed declaration of war and the subsequent delivery (next link). AFP released another false post claiming that Chinese tourists can enter the country without immigration requirements.
Claims that access to the data center allowed Chinese visitors with visas to create “hot calls” for illegal activities such as drug sales also appeared in threads and on Facebook.
They spread after the September 26 Ministry of Infrastructure in Daejeon disrupted parts of South Korea’s government data network, including access to the national National ID (link saved).
less than this page Telecommunications Business LawSouth Korean mobile phone subscribers must verify their identity using an official document such as a resident registration card, driver’s license, passport, or foreign registration card when signing a telecom contract (link saved).
This real name verification program was introduced to prevent fraud and phone-based crime, ensuring that each mobile account is tied to a verified identity.
Short-term visitors and visitors without visas can use prepaid SIM cards but cannot open mobile phone accounts, as only residents with a valid registration card are ineligible (link saved).
The Chosun Ilbo reported that nearly 150,000 phone accounts were operating without full ID verification after the NIRS fire was detected before the system was restored, identifying data imported from the opposition by telecom companies (link saved).
The program has been restored
But tBae Il-Gwon, director of the Interior Ministry’s Public Information Department, told AFP the disruption was brief and fully restored by September 29 – the same day the visa-free entry program for Chinese group tourists began.
“There are no problems now. The program was restored on the 29th,” said Bae October 13In addition to that during the off hours, cell phone stores will still be doing ID checks.
“There are several ways to verify identity. Stores go through the standard verification process, but they can’t first check that the ID is real through the government database – that part is done later when the system comes back online,” he said.
According to both and Department of Science and ICTNIRS output he did not remove the legal requirement confirmation.
A spokesperson from three major South Korean companies – SK Telecom, kt and LG U + – told AFP, “the process has been temporarily changed to ‘COUNTS
One of them added that “since October 1, we have completed additional verification procedures, and many accounts have been found to be non-subscribers” and that “a few cases do not match or do not look for strategies immediately.”
The so-called “Burner Phones” cases in South Korea often involve bad sellers misusing nationally registered IDs – a problem that underlies NIR’s fire and storage policy).
