99 Foreign Residents Put Under 24-hour Surveillance

In the run-up to the G-20 Seoul summit next week, the Korean government has put 99 foreign residents in Korea under 24-hour police surveillance to prevent terrorist attacks.

According to a police report submitted Thursday to ruling Grand National Party lawmaker Lee Chul-woo, the foreigners being monitored are mostly from Muslim countries.

Police declined to disclose their home countries, personal information and the reason for surveillance to protect national security.

Police had confirmed earlier the sojourn status of some 50,000 expatriates from 57 Muslim countries from the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia as part of counterterrorism efforts ahead of the G-20 summit.

Based on the investigation, 99 people whose purposes for staying in Korea are unclear and who frequently change residence were selected for close monitoring. Most of them are from countries on the U.S. terrorism blacklist such as Iran, Syria, Sudan and Cuba, and nations on the U.S. terror watch list including Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Yemen, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Somalia.

Separately, police obtained a list of terrorist suspects from Interpol and related agencies at home and abroad to prevent them from entering Korea. The number of terrorists on the wanted list is 2,713 from 69 countries.

In addition, a list of 119 people wanted by Pakistani police was secured and added to the list of people banned from entering Korea.

egija@donga.com