South Korea has introduced mandatory facial recognition for anyone registering a new SIM card or eSIM, whether in-store or online.
The live scan must match the photo on an official ID so that each phone number can be tied to a verified person instead of relying on paperwork alone.
Existing users are not affected, and the requirement applies only at the moment a number is issued.
The government argues that stricter checks are needed because telecom fraud has become industrialised and relies heavily on illegally registered SIM cards.
Criminal groups have used stolen identity data to obtain large volumes of numbers that can be swapped quickly to avoid detection. Regulators now see SIM issuance as the weakest link and the point where intervention is most effective.
Telecom companies must integrate biometric checks into onboarding, while authorities insist that facial data is used only for real-time verification and not stored. Privacy advocates warn that biometric verification creates new risks because faces cannot be changed if compromised.
They also question whether such a broad rule is proportionate when mobile access is essential for daily life.
The policy places South Korea in a unique position internationally, combining mandatory biometrics with defined legal limits. Its success will be judged on whether fraud meaningfully declines instead of being displaced.
A rule that has become a test case for how far governments should extend biometric identity checks into routine services.
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