'Youke' encouraged to visit South Korea

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon in a red vest, center, waves with a group of Chinese tourists, often referred to as “youke,” in Myeong-dong, a popular shopping district in central Seoul, Thursday. The Chinese were invited by Asiana Airlines, South Korea's second-largest carrier, to visit Seoul, the capital, as the number of foreign arrivals, mostly Chinese, in the country plunged in the wake of the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) on May 20. The Chinese visitors included executives of travel agencies, journalists and power bloggers.

Meanwhile, the South Korean government is considering declaring an end to the MERS crisis in early August if there are no additional cases confirmed until then, a government official said. No new case of infection with the viral respiratory disease was reported in the nation for 11 straight days on Thursday, according to the health ministry. The number of people diagnosed with MERS remained unchanged at 186. The death toll also had no change at 36, with the fatality rate standing at 19.4 percent.

Park Sae-jin swatchsjp@ajunews.com

'Youke' encouraged to visit South Korea

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