THAAD may lead to $7.5b economic loss in 2017: South Korean media
Hallyu refers to the demand for Korean music, TV dramas and films, as well as the boom of South Korean goods and services abroad.
South Korea posted a $3.8 million deficit in cultural content exports in 2013, before reporting a surplus of $84 million in the following year. The favorable balance rose to $244.9 million and $513 million in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
As Aju Business Daily reported, the THAAD incident may be the most negative factor to hit the nation's economy this year. The Bank of Korea forecast that South Korea's economic growth rate will be lowered by 0.2 percent this year while employment will be reduced by 25,000.The industry that will suffer the most from tension with China will be tourism. Hyundai Research Institute said the number of Chinese tourists would shrink 40 percent between April and December of this year, with the annual loss for the tourism industry estimated at $6.3 billion. That's 84 percent of the total losses for South Korea in 2017.
The US and South Korean defense ministries agreed in July 2016 that THAAD would need to be deployed by the end of 2017.
That decision triggered concern and protests at home and abroad.
