Although the number of Chinese customers in South Korea’s duty-free shops recently increased slightly compared to March and April, it is not anything close to the figure before South Korea’s decision to install the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, Xinhuanet.com reported on July 12.

Latest statistics from Korea’s Tourism Organization show that the number of foreign tourists was less than 980,000, down by 34.5 percent from 2016 year-on-year. Similarly, the number of Chinese tourists decreased by 64.1 percent for the same period.

An assistant in a Lotte duty-free shop in Seoul said there was a slight increase in tourists to their shop of late, but this was less than half of the figure before South Korea’s decision to install THAAD.

The situation is contrary to reports in some media that South Korean duty-free shops have gradually recovered with more and more Chinese tourists purchasing goods.

Many people in South Korea hope that the government will properly handle the economic losses caused by the THAAD controversy.

South Korean insiders said it was too early to claim another tourism boom as the number of Chinese tourists to the country has sharply declined since March 15. The growth rate of sales volume by duty-free shops was only 1.6 percent in April after South Korea decided to install the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system.

South Korea and China should now join hands to bring bilateral ties back to the track of healthy development as quickly as possible. Both sides should take advantage of the 25th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations to seek long-term development by taking the overall picture into consideration and respecting the core interests and major concerns of each other, observers stated.