Ignoring China's security issue not in ROK's interest

With China's weeklong National Day holiday just around the corner, there has been speculation in the Republic of Korea on whether and how much its citizens can benefit from the tourist flow from China.

The October "golden week", an annual peak of outbound travel that continuously breaks sales records of related industries at home and in the main destination countries, had been a secure source of revenues for many ROK businesses for many years.

Even last year, when ties between Beijing and Seoul had already been strained by the latter's decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-missile system in total disregard of Beijing's security concerns and protests, tourist attractions and shopping venues in the ROK remained packed with Chinese visitors. During that one week, the ROK saw 250,000 visits by Chinese tourists, and many shopping venues registered double-digit growth in sales. So there were the claims that THAAD and souring official ties had no impact on tourist enthusiasm.