YONHAP NEWS

Summit delays signing of MOU on visa waiver

   By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, March 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States are delaying the signing of a deal on a visa waiver program (VWP) so as to produce it as the tangible result of a summit between their leaders to be held next month, officials here said Monday.

   Through a series of working-level consultations, the two sides have virtually completed the fine-tuning of wording on a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on details of what should be done in order for South Korea to join the U.S. program by the end of this year, they added.

   South Korea, as one of the largest sources of students and travelers to the U.S., has long sought to join the VWP, which will enable South Koreans to enter and stay in the U.S. without visas for up to 90 days.

   "Ninety-nine percent of the wording on the MOU has been worked out," a Foreign Ministry official said. "Although the MOU will be non-binding, it will set concrete guidelines for legal and institutional measures to be taken by both South Korea and the U.S."
For instance, South Korea is required to issue electronic passports less vulnerable to forgery and the U.S. is trying to establish a computerized traveler information system.

   But the MOU will be formally inked around the summit between President Lee Myung-bak and his counterpart George W. Bush in the middle of next month, the official added. The first-ever Camp David summit between the allies is expected to focus on ways of improving their relations.

   South Korea hopes to join the VWP by the end of this year but U.S. officials leave the door open for a delay.

   "It will take some time. I anticipate that the visa waiver program will be available for Korean citizens at the very earliest in late 2008 or early 2009," Julia R. Stanley, consul general of the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, said in an earlier interview at her office. "I think it would be very prudent to say early 2009 because there is considerable work to be done."
The date South Korea joins the VWP depends on the pace of the preparations by both sides, she added.

   Twenty-seven nations, mostly European countries in addition to Japan, currently benefit from the program.

  The U.S. has not admitted any new countries to the VWP since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, as it has tightened security measures against possible terrorism from incoming travellers.

   lcd@yna.co.kr
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