If you’re heading to South Korea soon, then make sure you follow all the instructions and procedures before you enter the country! Recently, a Malaysian man was sent back home a few hours after reaching South Korea’s airport reportedly after he failed to declare his job in the arrival card.
Fahmi Sudirwan, 32, a part-time tour guide, shared his experience in the Road to Korea page, which has since gone viral on social media.
Source: Pepperminter
According to the post, when he arrived at the Incheon International Airport on 4th October, he was called by the Korea immigration authorities where they questioned him about his job.
He told mStar, “When I was called by them, I was nervous and dissatisfied that I cannot defend myself during the interrogation. Only the officers can question me but I was not allowed to ask them any questions regarding the matter.”
During the interrogation, he was asked a few questions. The officer started by asking sternly, “What is your job?” and Fahmi replied that he was a government servant in the fisheries department. Noticing that the officer did not understand his answer, he was taken into an isolated room with a translator.
Source: The Seoul Guide
There, they processed him by taking the fingerprints of both his hands, a picture of him and also ordered him to fill up a form. The room was full of Thai tourists as well. During the interrogation, Fahmi was given a Malay language translator.
He was also asked about how many were there in his travelling group and when he answered eight “friends”, he was asked to name them all which he could not do so as he was not the tour leader.
He was also asked to list down the places that they planned to go without looking at the printed itinerary of the trip. Since this is his first time in Korea, he failed to do so as well which caused the officials to be displeased with his answers.
Source: The Wayfaring Soul
Lastly, he was asked about how much money he is carrying. Since the money was for the whole group, he had about 1.7 million won (RM6,235). The officer then questioned him why he was carrying so much, when he should have divided the money among his friends.
“I reached the airport at 8am, and after being interrogated for a few hours, I was sent back to Malaysia at 4.30pm,” he told mStar.
Fahmi explained that he did not declare his job in the arrival card because he assumed that it was not going to be any issue as he never faced such problem during his trips to Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar, The Philippines and Vietnam before this.
Source: Living Nomads
He elaborated that,
“I think this incident is related to the sudden increase of foreign workers in Korea and I hope any Malaysians who are planning to go there would not repeat the same mistake that I did, or else you will experience a day trip to Korea.”
During the visit, Fahmi was actually helping his good friend who is a full-time tour guide, where they were leading a tour group that consisted of six Malaysian tourists.
As mentioned in his post, he was unable to pass the 1.7 million won (RM6,235) for the hotel and transport fees to his friend. The officers would not allow him to go out of the room even just for a while to give them the money. Luckily, they had spare cash with them for emergency purposes as well.
Source: Facebook
He was escorted by an officer up to a plane and sent back to Malaysia on the same day after the South Korean immigration officers decided not to let him enter the country.
The posting has generated mixed reactions from netizens. Some criticised him for not being honest and careless when entering the country which has complicated things for his customers. Some also advised him to follow the rules properly instead of assuming things will be alright if he purposely chose to ignore them. The tour company was also criticised for not briefing him thoroughly about the trip.
What are your thoughts on the incident? Share with us in the comments section.
Also read: This M’sian Booked An Apartment in S. Korea for RM4,800, Turns Out It Doesn’t Exist
