56.2

of 597 sampled tourism companies in South Korea has been negatively affected by China’s reaction to THAAD deployment

“The cashier counter was often full of people in lines, now you don’t need to queue up to pay the money,” she added.

South Korea’s largest duty-free store Lotte Duty Free saw its sales drop 25 percent during March 18 and 19 compared to the same period last year. It once had maintained a hefty growth of 20 percent in this year on an annual basis.

In a press conference held by South Korean presidential candidate and the mayor of Seongnam City Lee Jae-myung, business representatives from Dongdaemun and Myeongdong markets expressed t heir anxiety about THAAD deployment and asked for halt.

A businessman from Dongdaemun said his market had over 10,000 shops selling clothes. The sharp decrease of Chinese customers worries those shop owners, who had to close their business if the situation doesn’t change.

In this conference, Lee Jae-myung said the deployment of THAAD is no use for South Korea’s national security. Only the United States benefits from this, both South Korea and China suffer, he added.

Park Dong-Hee plans to find other foreign markets to make up for the loss. She said she is a business person; she doesn’t want to talk about politics and doesn’t know what THAAD is doing here.

“But South Korea and China are close neighbors; Chinese companies are best partner for their South Korean counterparts. I really hope the two countries can work in harmony and reach a winwin result,” she said.