SEOUL, South Korea — November 3, 2026 — South Korea’s departure passenger screening system went down for about 140 minutes early on Tuesday, November 3, leaving airline check-in counters connected to it unable to work across the country. Nine departures were delayed at Incheon International Airport (ICN), SBS reports.
What happened
- The system: the Ministry of Justice’s Advance Passenger Processing System (APPS), which clears each passenger for departure in real time before a boarding pass is issued.
- Timeline (Korea time, November 3): the fault began at about 6:05 a.m. Incheon Immigration told airlines to switch to manual ticketing at about 6:20 a.m. The system was restored at about 8:25 a.m.
- Impact: check-in counters linked to the system could not work “across the country.” Nine flights were delayed at Incheon. Figures for Gimpo and other airports were not published: TBA.
- Cause: the ministry suspects the fault followed access to a database server while outdated storage for the border-control system was being replaced. An official said the exact cause is still under investigation.
- Status: resolved. SBS noted its article was machine-translated.
What it means for non-revs
- The early bank is where it hurts. The outage covered the first departures of the day. If you are on an early flight out of Korea, get to the airport early, because a repeat would mean slow manual check-in.
- Staff travelers often need agent help at check-in, and manual processing puts you behind revenue passengers. Extra time at the counter matters more for non-revs than for kiosk users.
- Little effect on loads. With only nine reported delays and no cancellations, there is no backlog to push standby chances down.
- Watch for a follow-up. The ministry is still investigating, and storage replacement work may continue. Any repeat date: TBA.
Sources
- SBS World News — “Ministry of Justice Departure Passenger Screening System Suffered 140-Minute Outage; Normal Operations Resumed After Airport Check-in Delays” (November 3, 2026) — news.sbs.co.kr
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