The governments of South Korea and Japan will operate dedicated immigration counters for nationals of the counterpart country at major airports in both countries to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations. This measure will be implemented temporarily throughout June as part of a commemorative project to expand human exchanges between the two countries.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the dedicated immigration counters will be targeted at short-term visitors (for tourism purposes, etc.) who have visited the counterpart country at least once in the past year from the date of entry. However, only passengers arriving on flights from their own country that land between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. will be able to use the counters.
In South Korea, dedicated immigration counters will be established at Gimpo International Airport and Gimhae International Airport. Passengers from four airlines, including Korean Air, Asiana Airlines, Japan Airlines (JAL), and All Nippon Airways (ANA), can utilize the counters at Gimpo Airport, while all passengers arriving from Japan, regardless of the airline, can use the counters at Gimhae Airport.
On the Japanese side, immigration counters have been set up at Haneda Airport's Terminal 3 and Fukuoka Airport. Similar to Gimpo Airport, Haneda Airport will operate counters for passengers from four airlines, and at Fukuoka Airport, all entrants from South Korea can use the service regardless of the airline.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted, 'We hope this project will enhance ease of entry and exit and further activate human exchanges between the nationals of both countries.'