South Korea’s services account deficit reached an all-time high in the first half due to the effects of China’s travel ban over the deployment of the U.S. THAAD antimissile system.
 
According to the Bank of Korea’s preliminary data released on Thursday, the country’s services account deficit came to 15-point-seven billion U.S. dollars in the January-June period, which is the largest ever half-year figure.
 
The travel balance deficit posted seven-point-74 billion dollars in the first half.
 
In particular, the figure for June marked one-point-39 billion dollars, the highest since July 2015, when the nation was hit hard by the spread of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome.
 
The number of Chinese tourists visiting South Korea plunged 66 percent on-year to 225-thousand in June.