Visitors to South Korea will be allowed to activate their mobile phones as soon as they enter the country.

The Justice Ministry and the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said on Wednesday that the government will provide real-time name authentication service for non-Korean nationals from Thursday to facilitate the opening of mobile phone accounts at airports by submitting a passport. 

Currently, foreign visitors must wait until the following day of arrival for their immigration records to be verified, a prerequisite for registering a phone.

Under the revision, foreign visitors' information is registered automatically upon arrival in South Korea allowing them to register local mobile accounts at airports with a passport.