As part of ongoing efforts to improve security, the Swedish Embassy announced that the design of passports and identification cards will change for next year.

Already issued passports will still be valid for as long as is stated in the passport.

Due to the change, the passport system at the embassy will be unavailable between Dec. 26 until Jan. 12.

During this period, no applications for ordinary passports or Swedish identification cards will be accepted.

The new regulations that came into force two years ago, requires all newly issued Swedish passports to include fingerprints as well as the new design will help to reduce the possibility of forgery.

For more information, visit the embassy’s site at www.swedenabroad.se/seoul or call (02) 3703-3700.