IVE's Jang Won-young Cleared by Airport Authority After Viral ID Check Debate

A viral clip of IVE's Jang Won-young at Gimpo International Airport has grown into a formal complaint filed with Korea Airports Corporation, the agency that operates the country's airports outside Incheon.

K-POPIT reached out to Korea Airports Corporation about the controversy. The agency said the details of the complaint cannot be shared because of privacy rules. It confirmed, however, that there was no procedural problem with how Jang's identity was checked before her departure.

An official told K-POPIT that "the work was carried out according to regulations." The official added, "Looking at the video, Jang Won-young lowered her mask twice. There is no need to take the hat off completely. It is enough for the staff member to be able to tell that the person matches the passport photo. The way each on-site worker asks for that confirmation can vary from person to person."

According to an earlier report by another outlet, the complaint goes beyond one celebrity's behavior. The person who filed it asked the airport to clarify exactly what standards and methods are used during identity checks.

That report said the complaint was submitted on Monday to the security management department of the Gimpo Airport operations unit at Korea Airports Corporation. The filer asked the agency to set clear standards for identity checks at the international departure area of Gimpo International Airport and to make the official guidance easier to find. The filer pointed to Incheon International Airport, which provides separate guidance telling passengers to remove items such as masks, hats, and sunglasses when their identity is being checked. The question, according to the report, was whether the same rule is applied at the airports run by Korea Airports Corporation, and whether ordinary travelers can easily learn about the process through official notices.

The same report quoted the filer as saying, "If there are security steps that passengers have to follow on site, the public should be able to find out about them easily." The filer asked the corporation to disclose the specific name of the rule that requires travelers to take off masks or hats, the department in charge, and the related legal clauses. The filer also asked the agency to confirm whether the same security standards are applied without exception to all travelers, including politicians, business figures, and famous entertainers. Korea Airports Corporation is reported to be reviewing the complaint, with a response planned by June 23.

The issue began with a video taken on May 30, when Jang Won-young was passing through the international departure area at Gimpo International Airport on her way to a schedule in Shanghai, China. An on-site worker asked her to lower her mask so her face could be checked against her passport photo. Jang lifted her hat and pulled her mask down to complete the check. After the clip spread online, some users argued that she had been uncooperative or careless during the process, and the moment grew into what fans and media have called an "attitude controversy."