President Lee Jae-myung Clashes With Incheon Airport Chief Over Book-Based Cash Smuggling Claims

Incheon International Airport (ICN) of South Korea (which is one of the busiest airports in the world) has become the focal point of an unusual and escalating dispute between President Lee Jae-myung and the president of Incheon International Airport Corporation over alleged money smuggling risks involving books in passenger baggage.

What began on December 12, 2025 during a Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport briefing held at the Sejong Convention Center has since evolved into a highly publicized clash over operational security, legal jurisdiction, and executive authority.

The president’s demand for all passenger luggage to be manually searched to uncover cash hidden within books, citing concerns that individuals could smuggle undeclared foreign currency out of the country by concealing bills within bookmarks or between pages has been perceived to be rather quixotic.

Incheon International Airport: At a Glance

Background of Incheon Airport Controversy

The controversy erupted when President Lee pressed Lee Hak-jae, the head of Incheon International Airport Corporation, about the possibility that cash could be surreptitiously moved in books and evade detection at security checkpoints.

The president directed a search protocol that would require security personnel to inspect every single piece of baggage manually, including any books passengers carry.

In response, Lee Hak-jae publicly rebutted the suggestion, stating that the airport’s standard security procedures focus on hazardous items such as weapons and liquids, and that illegal foreign currency smuggling is typically referred to customs for handling rather than the airport’s own inspection units.

He also warned that 100 percent manual baggage searches would “paralyze” operations at ICN and was quoted in The Chosun Daily as having said:

 “Even Incheon Corporation employees who have worked at Incheon Airport for 30 years are unaware of this content……The president’s remarks made this known, and if we implement the 100% baggage opening inspection solution proposed by the president to prevent this, the airport will be paralyzed.”

Further, the Incheon Airport leadership stressed that such concealment methods are not part of routine threat vectors and that such searches exceed the mandate of airport security:

“Illegal foreign currency smuggling falls under customs’ jurisdiction, while Incheon Airport Corporation’s inspection duties involve hazardous items such as knives, awls, firearms, lighters, and liquids. Incheon Airport hands over any discovered illegal foreign currency smuggling to customs during hazardous item inspections.”

South Korean Law on Foreign Currency

Under South Korean law, citizens and residents may not export more than $10,000 USD in cash without declaration. Any attempt to remove undeclared currency above statutory limits would fall under customs enforcement, not airport security inspection protocols per se.

In this controversy, critics argue that the president’s proposed manual checks conflate customs enforcement with airport security functions, creating jurisdictional ambiguity with limited legal basis in South Korean aviation law and existing international norms.

According to Ben Schlappig of One Mile At a Time, Lee Hak-jae, the president if Incheon Airport is “100% correct” in his stand:

“I find Incheon Airport to be a mess, in terms of security and immigration wait times. If every single bag had to be manually searched, the airport might as well just shut down, because there’s no way security staff would be able to do that in an even semi-efficient way.  For that matter, of all the potential issues a country faces, does this really rank anywhere close to up there? You can typically travel internationally with $10,000 in cash, so how much more could you realistically fit into a book? It’s not like you could smuggle millions of dollars in a book.”

One should also keep in mind the key legal divisions in this case: 

• Airport security screening: Focus on threats to aviation safety.

• Customs enforcement: Handler of undeclared currency issues.

The proposed directive, according to aviation and legal experts, could conflict with established procedural segregation between security screening and customs functions unless new statutory authority is granted.

Political Dynamics

Beyond operational concerns, the controversy has rapidly taken on political overtones. Several opposition lawmakers have linked the president’s specific reference to “smuggling dollars in bookmarks” to historical remittance scandals — notably the 2019 Ssangbangwool case, which involved illegal foreign currency transfers to North Korea, albeit under different circumstances.

According to English News1, People Power Party lawmaker Na Kyung-won publicly challenged President Lee’s fixation on the smuggling method, claiming that President Lee Jae-myung’s criticism of Incheon Airport wasn’t merely criticism but psychologically “akin to a Freudian slip:

“It’s clear that the vivid criminal technique of ‘hiding dollars in books and cosmetic cases, as detailed in the prosecutor’s indictment, left a lasting impression on the president…The president’s subconscious dredged up memories tied to his own legal risks, manifesting as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) when confronting an innocent public official.”

Potential Impact on Passengers and Operations

Should the airport be directed to implement universal manual searches of all passenger baggage, expert assessments indicate significant ramifications:

• Severe bottlenecks at security checkpoints with extended wait times.

• Delay cascades affecting flights across Asia, Europe, and North America.

• Operational resource strain, requiring many more security personnel.

Incheon International Airport routinely handles millions of passengers annually, and its current security screening model is calibrated for throughput efficiency under existing protocols.

Airport leaders have explicitly warned that 100 percent manual inspections would be incompatible with current staffing and throughput capacity, effectively freezing passenger flows and compromising service standards.

All in All

The Incheon Airport book money smuggling controversy has transcended its initially quirky premise and become a flashpoint in debates over airport operational autonomy, the roles of security versus customs, and political influence on aviation governance. With opposing statements from presidential offices and airport leadership, and vocal inputs by lawmakers, the outcome remains uncertain.

According to Maeil Business Newspaper, Airport President had told the South Korean President that, “You can check if 100 bills are overlapped, but it is a little difficult to find them with the current technology if they are inserted like bookmarks one by one.” to which the South Korean President retorted back to “look through all the books”.

Note that Maeil Business Newspaper’s translations of the exchange between Incheon Airport’s President and South Korean President were done with the help of AI. Perhaps an extraordinarily efficient AI which is adept at scanning the pages of books in search of dollar bills is the only way the Korean president’s wishes would be fulfilled.