S. Korea tourist numbers hammered by China boycott
Chinese tourist numbers to South Korea plunged by two-thirds in April after Beijing banned tour groups over Seoul's deployment of a US missile defence system, official statistics showed. Beijing imposed a boycott from March 15 on Chinese tour groups visiting the South in a spat over the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system. Washington and Seoul say it is purely to defend against threats from nuclear-armed North Korea, but Beijing fears it could undermine its own nuclear deterrent and has reacted with fury, imposing a series of measures seen as economic retaliation.