Ken,
As it happens, I attended a dinner Saturday that was addressed
by Ambassador Han, the Korean Ambassador to the U.S.
Taking up the Korean visa issue today, I spoke with an official
in the Washington DC visa section.
I believe I can state the visa regulation as it applies to U.S.
citizens.
- Individuals traveling to Korean to attend the IETF meeting
do not need a visa, as they are traveling to attend a
non-profit conference. They can stay in Korea up to 30
day for such purpose and for tourism.
- If you travel to Korea for business purposes, such as
meeting customers or other business purposes, then a
visa is needed.
- This applies only to private U.S. citizens. Government
employees and citizens of other countries need to contact
their local Korean embassy for a determination in their
case. Ken, in your case, if you are a government employee,
you will need a visa.
- Another consideration concerning visa. People attend
IETF meetings as individuals, not directly representing
their company -- and clearly a private individual traveling
to attend a nonprofit technical meeting clearly does not
need a visa.
Warning. I am only relaying what was told to me today by a
responsible embassy official. I am not attending the Seoul meeting,
but if I was, I would want to have an official statement from an
Korean official regarding the visa request. One official who can
handle such a request at the visa section in Washington DC is
Mr. Sang Yoo. I am copying this email to him. A member of the
meeting committee might want to put a formal query to him, and
email his answer to the list.
For Mr. Yoo, details of the meeting:
59th IETF Meeting, Seoul, South Korea, 29 February - 5 March 2004.
For information about the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force)
see: http://www.ietf.org/overview.html
Gene Gaines
gene.gaines@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Monday, January 12, 2004, 12:12:27 PM, Ken wrote:
>>I'd be interested in answers people get from other consulate/embassy
>>staff both from locations other than Boston and with different
>>phrasings of the question.
> Well, I finally was able to talk to someone at the Washington, DC, embassy.
> Their answer? "We're not sure, but you might need one".
> I basically took the same tactic that Sam took; I described the IETF as
> a professional organization, and explained I was attending a meeting
> of this organization. At first he said that a visa was not required,
> because this counts as a "visit", but then he said he wasn't sure, and
> maybe I would need a visa.
> I then started asking a few more questions. I asked what exactly
> "business" travel was defined as, and after going around a few times
> about it, he basically settled on the definition that if you were
> travelling to Korea to a meeting for a "business purpose", then you
> need a visa.
> The whole thing was as clear as mud, and he clearly wasn't that familiar
> with the regulations. I might try calling a few more consulates to
> see if I can find someone more knowledgeable.
> BTW, has anyone been able to contact the host web site? (The one
> linked off of the IETF Seoul meeting web page)
> http://www.tta.or.kr/ietf59/index.htm
> I've been trying for a few days now and no go. It doesn't seem like
> a local network problem from where I'm sitting, but sometimes it's hard
> to be sure.
> --Ken
--