[News Today] ACTOR USED AIRPORT PRIORITY LANE

[LEAD]
In July, actor Byeon Woo-seok sparked controversy over excessive security control at the airport. It was later confirmed that he used the 'priority lane for vulnerable passengers,' receiving preferential treatment. A KBS investigation has shown this actually happens quite often.

[REPORT]
Actor Byeon Woo-seok was at Incheon International Airport to travel overseas in July.

At the time, his departure sparked an excessive security controversy when one of the security guards pointed a flashlight at his fans and inspected passengers' plane tickets.

It's been confirmed that the actor received special treatment of being allowed to use the airport's priority lane for vulnerable passengers instead of that for the general population.

Airline Official / (VOICE MODIFIED)
It's against the operation guidelines to provide the service to the actor.

Kim Cheong-yun/ KBS Reporter
Normally one must queue and show the passport before entering the security
area but the priority entrance next to the departure area enables direct passage.

Byeon Woo-seok was able to zip through a security check by using the priority entrance set aside for elderly, disabled or pregnant passengers.

Airport Official / (VOICE MODIFIED)
The priority entrance is for 70 or older, non-ambulatory, pregnant passengers or social contributors.

The actor's management agency said that the security details were left up to the security firm.

However, it was an airliner that helped Byeon Woo-seok go through the priority entrance.

A carrier is allowed the use of the priority entrance with an approval from the head of the Airline Operators Committee. An airliner has several pre-stamped approval forms and arbitrarily decides who gets to use the priority lane.

The conditional clause of 'when needed for official duty' seems meaningless.

The details of priority lane use by a large airliner over the last five years were analyzed and it was found that most of the cases had nothing to do with official duties.

The oversight agency of the Seoul Regional Office of Aviation announced that it will establish restriction measures that limit the abuse of the priority lane and other improvement plans.

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