Nearly 2,500 cases of prohibited items, including live ammunition and Tasers, have been detected during security checks at South Korean airports over the past 4 1/2 years, data showed Sunday.
The Korea Airports Corp., which operates 14 international and domestic airports nationwide, and the Incheon International Airport Corp., the operator of South Korea’s main gateway, reported that 2,485 cases of banned items were found in carry-on baggage across 15 airports from January 2020 to June 2024, according to their data submitted to the National Assembly.
More than half of these detections, totaling 1,378 cases, occurred at Incheon International Airport, located west of Seoul, followed by 684 cases in Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul.
Prohibited items include Tasers, firearms, sharp objects and explosives, all of which pose security risks and are banned on aircraft.
At Incheon International Airport, the number of detections of live ammunition increased significantly, rising from 106 cases in 2020
to 311 in 2022, with 205 cases reported in the first half of this year.
Live ammunition accounted for 65.2 percent of all prohibited items detected at the airport over the 4 1/2-year period.
A total of 1,352 cases of other banned items, such as tools, scissors and liquids, were detected at the 15 airports during the same period.
Source: Yonhap News Agency