South Korean Ministry System Failure Delays 44 Flights

A malfunction in the South Korean Justice Ministry's pre-boarding passenger verification system on the morning of 3 November caused flight delays at airports across the country. The system checks whether passengers are entitled to depart, based on information supplied by airlines. The failure was reported by the South Korean business and economy news portal ChosunBiz.

How the situation unfolded

The ministry learned of the problem at around 6:05 a.m. When the system went down, airline check-in counters nationwide stopped working and boarding was held up. At around 6:20 a.m., the ministry's Immigration and Foreigners Office instructed airlines to issue boarding passes manually, and departure checks were carried out in person in security zones.

The system was restored at around 7:25 a.m., and at 8:25 a.m. the ministry confirmed that communication with airlines had resumed.

Impact on flights

During this period, 44 of 201 scheduled flights nationwide were delayed. Of these, 36 were late by more than 30 minutes, and 8 by more than an hour.

Cause and next steps

The ministry said the system became overloaded while passenger information was being updated after having been suspended during the early-morning replacement of outdated memory devices at Incheon Airport. It pledged to develop preventive plans so that future equipment replacements or other operations do not affect the system.