Chinese posing as Korean nabbed at NAIA

MANILA, Philippines - A Chinese man who allegedly pretended to be South Korean was arrested by Bureau of Immigration (BI) personnel at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) as he was about to board a flight for Canada.

In a statement, BI Acting Commissioner Abdullah Mangotara said Chen Yu Wu, who assumed the Korean name Kim Seong Chung, is being held at the agency’s detention facility in Bicutan, Taguig City while waiting for the BI’s board of commissioners’ to issue a summary deportation order against him.

Mangotara explained that South Koreans, like the citizens of Japan and most European countries, could travel to the United States and Canada without a visa.

Chen arrived in Manila last Oct. 17 from Xiamen, China. Last Nov. 2, as he was about to depart on board a flight to Vancouver, the BI-NAIA’s travel control and enforcement unit (TCEU) had him offloaded for allegedly using spurious Korean passport.

BI Intelligence assistant chief Jose Carlitos Licas said Chen admitted paying $700 for his Korean passport and BI officials learned his real name from a Chinese identification card recovered from his backpack. – Evelyn Macairan, Rudy Santos