Japan to drop fingerprinting

Tokyo (Reuter) - Japan will abolish fingerprinting next month for about 640,000 foreigners, mostly Koreans and Taiwanese, who are permanent residents, the Kyodo news agency reported. Human rights and citizens' groups have criticised the fingerprinting as discriminatory.

The decision follows an agreement with South Korea last January that Japan would liberalise its registration system for aliens. The changes will take effect on 8 January.