According to the Central News Agency, calls for the abolition of the visa-free entry system for Chinese citizens have recently appeared on the "National Consent Petition" website of the South Korean National Assembly. One of the petitions has been signed by more than 50,000 people as of last Saturday.
The petition, titled "Requesting the ban on visa-free entry for Chinese citizens and the strengthening of foreign entry review and criminal management," calls for the cancellation of the visa-free entry policy for Chinese citizens on the grounds of ensuring public security in South Korea, and at the same time strengthening the entry review, management of foreigners in Korea, and criminal information sharing mechanisms for all foreigners.
The petitioners said that with the increase in the number of foreigners living and operating in South Korea, some South Korean people's concerns about foreign crimes have also increased.
What South Korea currently implements is not visa-free for Chinese citizens, but mainly for Chinese group tourists organized by designated travel agencies. In principle, a group of more than 3 people is required to stay in South Korea visa-free for up to 15 days. The policy will be implemented from September 29, 2025, and has been extended to December 31, 2026 this year.
The petition cited statistical data that there were 35,296 foreign criminal suspects in South Korea in 2024, an increase of 6.8% from the previous year, and also pointed out that Chinese nationals accounted for a higher proportion of foreign criminal cases.
Yonhap News Agency reported in May 2025, citing data from the South Korean police, that a total of 768 foreigners were suspected of major violent crimes such as murder, robbery, rape, etc. in South Korea in 2024, of which 33.3% (256) were Chinese. However, the report also pointed out that this high proportion is mainly related to the large number of Chinese in South Korea. If the proportion of criminal suspects is calculated based on the population of each country, the crime rate of Chinese in South Korea is actually lower than that of Koreans.
Another aspect of the foreign crime problem that has recently attracted attention in South Korea is the foreigners who fled to South Korea after committing crimes. Official figures show that as of August this year, more than 100 foreign criminals have fled South Korea, with the largest number of Chinese nationals.
According to Yonhap News Agency, information submitted by the South Korean Police Agency to members of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea on September 8 showed that as of the 12th of last month, a total of 110 foreigners had absconded to South Korea after committing crimes abroad. The Chinese police requested the International Criminal Police Organization to assist in the investigation of the most Chinese suspects, a total of 40 people, accounting for 36% of the total. Followed by Uzbekistan (19 people), Mongolia (17 people) and Vietnam (13 people).
The relevant petition believes that it is necessary for South Korea to re-evaluate the visa-free policy for Chinese group tourists, strengthen the identity and criminal risk review of foreigners before entry, and further strengthen international criminal information sharing cooperation. For foreigners with criminal records, entry management measures should be further tightened.
In addition, a number of criminal cases involving Chinese have recently occurred in Jeju Island, South Korea, including violent cases among Chinese, which has also intensified related discussions.
According to the special regulations of the Jeju region, foreigners can enter Jeju without a visa (visa-free) and stay for up to 30 days after entry, but they are not allowed to travel to other areas outside Jeju without authorization. In addition, in order to attract foreign investors, Jeju Island launched preferential policies for investment immigrants in the 2010s, stipulating that as long as you invest more than 5 million won (approximately 320,000 euros), you can obtain local permanent residence status.
The above regulations have not only attracted a large number of Chinese tourists to Jeju for sightseeing, but also a large number of Chinese-funded real estate development projects have emerged in Jeju, some of which are currently in an unfinished state. A report in the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" in early September stated that Chinese investment, immigrants and tourists are changing the face of Jeju Island, which has caused concern among local residents, development planning experts and administrative authorities.
There is currently another petition on the Korean National Assembly petition website, calling for the abolition of the "Jeju Special Self-Governing Province visa-free entry system."
According to the "national consent petition" system of the Korean National Assembly, if a public petition receives the support of more than 50,000 people within 30 days, it should enter the relevant committee of the National Assembly for review. Therefore, petitions with more than 50,000 signatures will be handed over to relevant congressional committees for review.
