Spending at South Korean duty free shops are showing a solid recovery amid speculation that China’s retaliation over the THAAD deployment may be easing. 

The Korea Duty Free Shops Association said on Tuesday that international visitors bought 656 million dollars worth of goods at the duty free shops in South Korea last month, up more than eleven percent from April.

The number of customers also rose to one-million-24-thousand last month after it fell below a million mark for the first time since the aftermath of the outbreak of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome(MERS) in July of 2015.

Market observers say the sales growth at the duty free shops reflects signs of an improvement in relations between South Korea and China since the start of the Moon Jae-in administration. But others predict that sales will remain stagnant for the time being even though the worst situation may have passed.