알몸투시기

Korea to introduce full-body scanner

Thomas Engstrom/Bloomberg News   '알몸투시기' 국내 공항 도입된다 현재 전세계 공항에서 설치하거나 설치가 추진되고 있는 '알몸투시기' 검색기가 우리나라 인천공항 등 국제 공항에도 도입될 것으로 보인다. 국토해양부는 27일 신종 항공테러 위협에 대비해 인천공항과 김포공항 등 우리나라 주요 국제공항에 전신 검색이 가능한 '알몸투시기'를 상반기 중 설치ㆍ운영할 계획이라고 밝혔다. 인천공항에는 상반기 중 3~4대의 '알몸투시기'가 설치되고, 한국공항공사가 운영 중인 김포공항 등 국제공항에는 모두 3대가 설치된다. 알몸투시기는 기존 금속탐지기에 의해서는 탐지가 어려운 세라믹 제품의 무기와 분말 폭약 등을 신체에 부착해 은닉한 경우에도 신체접촉 없이 신속하게 은닉물품을 탐지할 수 있다. 작년 크리스마스에 미국 노스웨스트항공 여객기 폭탄테러 기도사건을 계기로 미국과 영국, 네덜란드, 일본 등은 알몸투시기를 시범 운영하고 있고, 캐나다와 프랑스, 태국 등은 설치하기로 하는 등 알몸투시기의 도입이 가속화되고 있는 실정이다. The government said yesterday it will install three to four whole-body scanners at Incheon International Airport and one each at three local airports by the first half of the year. The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs said it will also install liquid explosives detectors. The decision is part of the government efforts to beef up air travel security since the attempted Christmas Day attack in the United States by a Nigerian, the ministry said. With airports often being targeted by terrorists, countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom have already started test-running the controversial scanner, in the face of opponents who claim it breaches privacy and human rights. Despite such concerns, the measures are also important for Korea, officials say, as it hosts the Group of 20 summits in November. Keeping the security level high throughout the year is important to successfully hold the international event with heads of states participating, officials added. Asked on the rising concerns of the full-body scanner threatening one's privacy, the Korean government said it will only use the scanner to passengers who are suspected of possessing harmful weapons and those who did not pass the first stage of security procedures. However, pregnant ladies, babies and the disabled are exempted from being scanned, officials said. To protect passengers' privacy, scans can't be saved, printed or transmitted, they added. "The security officer guiding the passenger through the machine never sees the image. Another employee viewing the scan must be stationed away from the passenger in a secure room," an official at the ministry said. He said security employees will blur pictures of passengers' faces and private parts of bodies and delete all images produced. Airline passengers will have the right to refuse to go through a full-body search scanner but instead will have to have a complete pat-down. (christory@heraldm.com) By Cho Chung-un