Dozens of local schools have canceled their planned field trips to China amid a diplomatic dispute over the deployment of a US missile defense system to South Korea, the education ministry said Wednesday.
Out of the 87 schools that planned trips to the neighboring country, 44 have switched the destination to Japan and other places as of Monday, according to the Ministry of Education.
A relatively quite Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, as China's measure to force its travel agencies to stop selling tours to South Korea went into force the same day. The measure was in protest of Seoul's ongoing deployment of a US missile defense system, known as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, in the country. (Yonhap)
Another 38 are seeking to follow suit, and the other five schools, whose trips are scheduled for March or April, said they will not make any changes due to cancellation penalties, it said.
Tension has been rising between the two countries after Beijing took aggressive steps in an apparent reprisal for Seoul and Washington's decision to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery in the nation.
China has been restricting Korean imports and business operations, and blocking its own people from traveling to South Korea. The hostile measures have especially been focused on South Korea's retail giant Lotte, which provided a site for THAAD in a land swap with the government.
"We cannot directly ask schools not to go to China as it can turn into external affairs issues," a ministry official said, asking not to be named. "All we can say is to change the destinations if there is a concern for safety, since the safety of the students is our priority." (Yonhap)