Korea mulls ID cards for those with foreign residency

The government is considering granting local resident registration cards to Korean holders of foreign permanent residency status as early as next year to address their inconveniences in domestic activities, Seoul officials said Tuesday.

Under the current law, they have to abandon their foreign residency status if they are to retain resident registration cards, without which they face limits in banking, Internet use and other various fields.

“Although details have yet to be worked out, the Ministry of Security and Public Administration and other related government agencies are now consulting over granting resident cards to them,” an official told The Korea Herald on condition of anonymity.

“But much work still needs to be done including revising the Residents Registration Act.”

The ministries of public administration, foreign affairs and justice, and other related agencies have set up a taskforce to discuss this issue and are expected to send a revision bill to the National Assembly within this year.

The move came after President Park Geun-hye pledged more efforts to enhance administrative support for overseas Koreans during her meeting with Korean residents in the U.S. in May.

“I think it is good to offer overseas Koreans more chances to contribute to their homeland and strengthen government support for them,” she said during the meeting organized when visiting Washington for her first summit with President Barack Obama.

Government data shows that the number of Korean citizens with foreign residency status is around 1.15 million. Of them, around 71,000 are registered to stay in Korea. The figure includes about 33,900 Koreans with permanent residency in the U.S.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)