South Korea to require facial recognition for new mobile numbers

South Korea will begin requiring people to submit to facial recognition when signing up for a new mobile phone number in a bid to fight scams, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced Friday.

The effort is meant to block people from illegally registering devices used for identity theft.

The plan reportedly applies to the country’s three major mobile carriers and mobile virtual network operators. The new policy takes effect on March 23 after a pilot that will begin this week.

"By comparing the photo on an identification card with the holder's actual face on a real-time basis, we can fully prevent the activation of phones registered under a false name using stolen or fabricated IDs," the ministry reportedly said in a press release.

In August, South Korean officials unveiled a plan to combat voice phishing scams that included harsher penalties for mobile carriers that do not sufficiently act to prevent the scams were reportedly a central feature of that plan.

South Korea has been plagued by voice phishing scams, with 21,588 reported as of November, the ministry said. 

In April, South Korea’s SK Telecom was hacked and SIM card data belonging to nearly 27 million subscribers was stolen. 

Privacy regulators determined the telecom "did not even implement basic access control," allowing hackers to take authentication data and subscriber information on a mass basis.