Dobong-gu, Full Cancellation Service for Existing Passports upon Passport Reissuance

From March 2, expired passports previously held will also be disposed of on behalf... For personal information protection, passport holders must apply in person at the district office's civil passport department.

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Dobong-gu (Mayor Dongjin Lee) will dispose of expired passports on behalf of residents when reissuing passports starting from March 2.

This is to assist cases where the existing passport becomes invalid upon reissuance but contains a lot of personal information and is made of special materials, making it difficult to simply discard.

This system originated from residents' requests for the district to accept and dispose of expired old passports that lost validity after reissuance, as well as expired passports personally kept by individuals.

Currently, the disposal service covers ▲ passports invalidated due to errors ▲ passports that have lost validity because they were not collected within six months from the issuance date ▲ passports found or kept that have reached their expiration date. However, expired passports kept personally or existing passports at reissuance were not included.

Therefore, the district has implemented this service to allow expired passports, which previously had to be returned to applicants with holes punched to prevent further use, to be professionally disposed of through administrative procedures when voluntarily returned. The same applies to expired passports lying unused in households.

Once the passport holder visits to apply for the ‘Passport Secure Disposal Service,’ the district prepares a disposal list and sorts the passports, which are then sent to the Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation for professional disposal. However, non-electronic passports such as printed or attached types are disposed of internally.

The district expects that this one-pass Passport Secure Disposal Service, which disposes of the existing passport simultaneously upon issuance of a new one, will increase administrative satisfaction among residents. This reissuance disposal service is one of the most advanced cases among Seoul’s autonomous districts.

Mayor Dongjin Lee of Dobong-gu said, “As the importance of personal information is increasingly emphasized these days, I hope this expansion of the Passport Secure Disposal Service will serve as an opportunity for residents to reconsider their dormant personal information.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.