S Korea to offer visa-free entry to Chinese group tourists from Sept 29

South Korea is going to implement a temporary visa-free policy for Chinese group tourists starting Sept 29, said the country's Prime Minister Kim Min-seok on Wednesday.

Such policy will last till June 30, 2026.

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S Korea to offer visa-free entry to Chinese group tourists from Sept 29

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S Korea to offer visa-free entry to Chinese group tourists from Sept 29

The South Korean government said this policy is expected to attract more Chinese tourists to visit South Korea, so as to boost economy and domestic demand.

Dai Bing, Chinese ambassador to South Korea, noted that this visa-free policy adopted by South Korea is good news to Chinese visitors.

Since China's unilateral visa-free policy for South Koreans became effective in November 2024, personnel exchanges between the two countries have been increasing rapidly, data showed.

As close neighbors, China and South Korea will further enhance understanding and deepen friendship as exchanges between two peoples get more frequent, Dai said.

China's outstanding aggregate social financing -- the total amount of financing to the real economy -- reached 442.12 trillion yuan (about 63.4 trillion U.S. dollars) as of the end of 2025, up 8.3 percent year on year, central bank data showed on Thursday.

The country's aggregate social financing stood at 35.6 trillion yuan (about 5.1 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2025, up by 3.34 trillion yuan (about 479 billion U.S. dollars) from the year 2024, said the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank.

According to the data, the M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, increased 8.5 percent year on year to 340.29 trillion yuan (about 48.8 trillion U.S. dollars) as of the end of December.

In addition, outstanding yuan loans stood at 271.91 trillion yuan (about 39 trillion U.S. dollars) at the end of 2025, up 6.4 percent year on year.