Foreign visitors to Korea reach record high for January to June, surpassing prepandemic levels

South Korea welcomed a total of 10.7 million international visitors from January through June, up 21.3 percent from 8.8 million during the same period last year, according to data released by the Korea Tourism Organization on Thursday. The figure exceeded the first-half total in 2019 by 26.9 percent, marking not only a full recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, but continued growth beyond prepandemic levels. China remained the largest source of visitors with 3.21 million arrivals, followed by Ja