SEOUL, Sept. 17 (Yonhap) — Figures released on Sunday showed that air travel between South Korea and China in August had recovered to around half of the 2016 level before Beijing restricted travel to South Korea as a result of the THAAD row.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport reported that 931,272 travelers boarded flights on such routes in August, representing 45% of the 2.06 million passengers in the same month of 2016.
The dispute between South Korea and China began in 2017 when Beijing imposed a ban on group tours to South Korea in response to Seoul’s deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system. The anti-missile system was established to protect against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.
In August of this year, China’s tourism authorities announced the decision to lift the ban, bringing an end to the six-year hiatus.
The revival of air travel between the two countries has also been aided by the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, with the August figure being twenty times higher than the 43,675 travelers recorded in August 2022.
Chinese tourists arrive at Incheon International Airport in Incheon, west of Seoul on Aug. 24, 2023. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
colin@yna.co.kr
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