After Queue-Jumping, Now Indoor Smoking? Another Case of a Foreign Passenger Causing Trouble at Incheon International Airport

[Financial News] Public anger is growing after a foreign female passenger was caught openly smoking an e-cigarette in the security area where travelers wait to board flights at Incheon International Airport. Following recent controversy over group queue-jumping in the departure hall, a series of rude and inconsiderate behavior by foreign passengers has again been captured on camera, prompting calls to strengthen order at the airport.
On the 23rd, JTBC's "Incident Chief" aired tip-off footage taken in front of a boarding gate at Incheon International Airport. The video showed a woman sitting in a chair with her head lowered as she looked around cautiously. As nearby passengers gradually left their seats, she put the e-cigarette in her hand to her mouth and exhaled a long plume of smoke. Even while glancing around, she did not stop smoking, and no one at the scene was reported to have intervened.
Informant A said on the broadcast, "The scene was near the boarding gate for a flight to China," and added, "I could not directly confirm the woman's nationality, but I saw her speaking Chinese with her companions."
The area is an indoor security zone where passengers wait after completing departure screening, and smoking is strictly prohibited everywhere except in designated smoking rooms. Under current law, e-cigarettes are subject to enforcement in no-smoking areas just like conventional cigarettes.
At Incheon International Airport, a series of rule-breaking incidents involving foreign passengers has recently deepened the controversy. On the 2nd, reports also showed dozens of Chinese passengers at the departure hall of Terminal 1, Incheon International Airport ignoring the queue behind the barrier line and ducking under the line to cut in as a group. Staff members assigned to control passengers at the time were pushed by the crowd and suffered bruises and other injuries.
After seeing the video, online users criticized the behavior, saying, "An airport security zone is a place where basic order and safety must come first," and "Smoking in a no-smoking area should be strictly punished regardless of nationality."


[email protected] Moon Young-jin Reporter