It is already pretty easy for foreigners to get around South Korea and the Seoul government is starting a program to make it even easier:
The Seoul metropolitan government said Sunday it will operate an inter-city bus connecting major tourist attractions in South Korea starting this week to provide visitors a chance to explore the many hidden treasures in the country.
The “K-travel Bus” exclusively serves foreign tourists, residents and students who want to travel outside the capital city, to boost travel to smaller cities and rural areas, a municipal official said. The initial two-day tours will run till the end of the year.
Under the planned service, foreigners can choose one of five destinations from Seoul — the southeastern city of Daegu, Ganghwa Island in Incheon near Seoul, the northeastern province of Gangwon, the southwestern province of South Jeolla and the southeastern province of North Gyeongsang. [Yonhap]
Here is the latest retaliation from the Chinese for the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system to South Korea:
A notice instructing Chinese tourists how to fill in disembarkation cards is posted Friday in the arrival hall of Incheon International Airport. China’s government ordered travel agencies to stop selling packaged tours to Korea starting March 15 as retaliation for the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system in Korea. [YONHAP]China’s government ordered travel agencies to stop selling tour packages to Korea starting March 15 in the latest retaliation against the deployment of a U.S.-operated anti-missile system in Korea.
Under the ban, all travel agencies in China will be barred from selling travel packages to Korea, both group and individual, from March 15, a move certain to harm the local tourism industry.
It was reported that the China National Tourist Office summoned executives of travel agencies Thursday to a meeting at which the government instructed them to halt all tour packages to Korea to rebuff Seoul’s decision last July to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) anti-missile system. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
The door of the North Korean tourist center in Kuala Lumpur is locked on Feb. 23, 2017, amid an international disturbance created by the recent assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s half-brother Kim Jong-nam in the Southeast Asian nation. (Yonhap)
It looks like this how the ROK government has decided to show its citizens that is doing something about the amount of crime committed by Chinese tourists on Jeju island:
Captured image from Beijing News website
According to the Beijing News and other local Chinese newspapers on Sunday, over 100 Chinese tourists were refused entrance to Jeju Island by Korean immigration authorities over China’s week-long national holiday last week, and the tourists were reportedly detained at the Jeju International Airport for hours, some even days, before returning to China.
“A number of tourists were refused entry for various reasons, and detained [at the airport],” the Beijing News reported on Sunday. “The room contained simple facilities, like electric outlets, and had no bed or blankets.”
The Chinese paper reported that a Chinese citizen surnamed Zhang and his wife were detained at the airport because they could not provide papers for their accommodation reservations at the island.
The paper added that over 100 Chinese tourists were detained at Jeju International Airport during the national holidays, staying at most five days. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
The Joong Ang Ilbo has an article published that shows some of the details of the foreign tourism industry in North Korea. Like I have always said I encourage people to not travel to North Korea because the money is used to subsidize the Kim regime and not some misguided sense of engagement some may think their travel to North Korea is offering. I will travel to North Korea one day when the Kim regime is gone and the Korea’s are reunited:
Canadian businessman Michael Spavor, who hosts sporting exchanges with North Korea.
The eyes of the world were upon Pyongyang when the former NBA player, Dennis Rodman, visited the city with the Harlem Globetrotters, an American exhibition basketball team, on Feb. 26, 2013. The North Korean leader Kim Jong-un personally threw a welcoming party for the American athletes.
Another visit was made by retired Japanese wrestler-cum-lawmaker Kanji Inoki, more widely known by his ring name, Antonio Inoki, who appeared at Pyongyang Sunan International Airport with his fellow wrestlers in August 2014. An international competition was held in Ryugyong Chung Ju-yung Gymnasium, built by the South’s Hyundai Group in an effort to initiate inter-Korean sports events. The event signaled the return of pro-wrestling to North Korea for the first time in 18 years.
Behind both these events was Michael Spavor, the head of Paektu Cultural Exchange, a “non-profit organization that facilitates cultural exchanges and business with North Korea,” according to its website. The Canadian enterpriser maintains a close connection with Kim, hosting not only sports exchanges, but investment briefings for foreigners, as well.
As inter-Korean relations experience a chill, foreign influence is rapidly squeezing through the gap, pervading cultural, political, economic and social domains, helping define the country’s change under Kim Jong-un’s leadership. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
This list sounds flawed to me coming from an American perspective, but maybe this is what a lot of Asian tourists want to do in Korea:
Visitors to Korea want most to experience street food, a survey showed Wednesday.
The state-run Korea Tourism Organization recently surveyed 4,369 foreign visitors. Of these, 54. 2 percent put street food at the top of their to-do list, followed by staying in traditional “hanok” housing and shopping at traditional markets. The fourth most anticipated experience was to visit a “jjimjilbang,” or public bathhouse. [The Korea Times]
