Drama spurs Chinese tourist boom in South Korea

The success of My Love in China is the latest sign of South Korean pop culture's growing appeal overseas, after rapper Psy's viral music video Gangnam Style and hits from K-pop bands such as BigBang, who appeared in a Korea Tourism Organization advertisement called Imagine Your Korea and attracted 114 million views to their Fantastic Baby video on YouTube.

Chinese President Xi Jinping drew applause from stude

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Site of Weiyang Palace in Chang’an City

nts in South Korea last month after citing My Love in a speech on ties between the two nations, says the Xinhua News Agency.

Views of the series, a romantic comedy about a beer-guzzling Korean actress in Seoul and a handsome alien who landed on Earth 400 years ago, have climbed to almost 2.7 billion on Chinese video-streaming site iqiyi.com.

The show "got Korean drama booming again in the China market", says Mike Suh, head of global business for CJ E&M Corp, a Seoul-based media and games company. It plans to co-produce two Chinese-language movies this year, he says.

Jing Ji, 25, of Beijing, traveled to South Korea this month to visit filming locations for the show and buy cosmetics worn by Jun. She says the strengthening Korean won was no deterrent. "I saved up for this trip. I'd like to visit again."

Chinese customers buy Amorepacific's mascara and whitening creams at duty-free shops in South Korea as well as the company's Etude House and Laneige outlets in Hong Kong and the mainland.

Sales in China may grow to 30 percent of Amorepacific's total by 2020 from 11 percent last year to make it the company's second-biggest market after South Korea, chief strategy officer Kim Seung-hwan said in an e-mail interview.

South Korea will start taking electronic visa applications from Chinese tourists in the first quarter of next year and create a Chinese-language TV channel, the finance ministry said in an Aug 12 statement.