Economic Retaliation

[Anchor Lead]

Chinese authorities have suspended more branches of the retail chain Lotte Mart in China. The chain is run by Korean conglomerate Lotte Group. Meanwhile, Chinese travel agencies have stopped selling travel packages to Korea and no longer offer visa services, so the Korean consulate is now directly managing visa affairs.

[Pkg]

The Lotte Mart branch in Dandong in China's Liaoning Province was slapped with a one month suspension on Friday over violations of fire regulations. Three more Lotte Mart stores - one in Liaoning, one in Jiangsu Province and another in Hangzhou - also received month-long suspension notices the following day. The reason for the sanctions is unclear. However, the measures came after Korea's Lotte Group provided a site for the deployment of the THAAD U.S. missile defense system. More suspensions are expected to follow as some 110 Lotte Mart stores across China are currently undergoing fire inspections. Meanwhile Chinese state run media are praising retaliatory measures over THAAD as patriotic and are encouraging boycotts of Lotte products. The order by the China National Tourism Administration banning sale of Korean tour products has been conveyed to both large and small travel agencies. Medium and small-sized tour agencies have not only suspended sales of tour programs but also stopped conducting visa services. Until now, travel agencies took care of visa concerns for Chinese travelers to Korea. But now tourists need to buy plane tickets for themselves and also apply for a visa at the Korean consulate with their own IDs. Subsequently, the Korean embassy in Beijing has expanded visa issuance duties to ten consulates, and promised little disruption in issuing visas for Chinese travelers.