South Korea will increase the number of flights into the country from China to 80 from 62 per week by the end of this month, South Korea's Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said on Friday, in Seoul's latest step to ease curbs on travellers from China.
"We will gradually expand the flights to 100 per week from next month as was agreed by the two countries and will review an additional increase," Han said, speaking during a meeting on responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The remarks come days after China announced it will resume issuing short-term visas for travellers from South Korea starting Saturday, following South Korea's lifting of similar visa curbs last week.
South Korea had imposed a number of border measures on travellers from China after Beijing's decision to lift stringent zero-COVID policies, but has been easing some of them citing an improved COVID situation in its neighbour.
Seoul will decide next week whether to drop remaining border restrictions, including mandatory COVID tests for arrivals from China, Han said.
South Korea's finance ministry said in a monthly economic report that the number of Chinese tourists arriving in January was 30,648, more than triple the number in the same month a year earlier, after more than doubling in December last year compared with December 2021.
(Reporting by Soo-hyang Choi and Choonsik Yoo; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Kenneth Maxwell)
