The United States’ decision to refuse 85 South Koreans entry into its territory was due to complications found in their purposes of visit, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said Monday. 

“According to our Consulate General in Atlanta, it has been confirmed that 85 of our citizens were denied entry into the US on Monday on matters related to their stated purposes of visit,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

Although details of the document remain undisclosed, a ministry official later added that the stated purposes of travel were different from what the group had initially reported before embarking on the trip.

“As soon as the incident was reported, we sent our consul to the region to figure things out by meeting the Customs and Border Protection personnel and airplane officials,” a ministry official said.

“It was found that their stated purposes of travel (at the airport) were different from what they had specified through the ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) beforehand.”

The ministry also said that the consul was dispatched to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia to talk with the CBP and other relevant authorities to gain insight into the incident. The group was mostly seniors in their 60s and 70s with a private organization, it said.

The official did not disclose further information about the individuals or the documents in order to protect their privacy.

The travelers were ordered to fly back after they arrived at the airport via two separate flights. They attempted to enter the US through the ESTA, an automated system under the South Korea-US visa waiver program.

South Koreans are permitted to travel to the US for tourism or business for up to 90 days without visas.

But the group was unable to catch an immediate flight back and was detained at the airport for nearly 24 hours before boarding for Incheon Airport, several media reports here said.

Meanwhile, the US edition of Joongang Ilbo reported that the group was on their way to participate in a meditation program hosted by a South Korea-based organization, Suwanee Mediation, through a travel agency. The agency’s mistake of conveying the wrong address of their destination played a big role in the denied entry, the newspaper said, citing a statement it received from the organization.

The program was scheduled to take place at a farm in Florida, it added.

Suwanee said it believes the agency was trying to avoid any unnecessary suspicion from US authorities, as visits to a farm could invoke the idea of unauthorized labor.

The Foreign Ministry said it would probe the matter further and work to prevent similar incidents, noting that such denial of entry for South Korean travelers en masse is a rare event. 

By Jung Min-kyung (mkjung@heraldcorp.com)