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Over 10 mln people travel between Korea and Japan in first 5 months in 2025

Published: 08 Jun. 2025, 15:19

The duty-free shops at Terminal 1 of Incheon International Airport in Incheon are crowded with tourists on June 6. [NEWS1]

More than 10 million air passengers traveled on routes between Korea and Japan in the January-May period, despite the strengthening yen, the Transport Ministry said Sunday.

A record 11.25 million passengers flew between Korea and Japan during the first five months of the year, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a press release.

The figure represents a 10.7 percent increase from the 10.16 million recorded during the same period last year and a 19.8 percent rise from the 9.39 million in the first five months of 2019, the year before the Covid-19 pandemic severely impacted the airline industry.

Industry officials said that years of a weak yen and the expansion of budget carrier flights to Japan have helped stimulate pent-up travel demand in recent years.

They expect demand to continue rising in the second half, with the number of air traffic between the two countries likely to exceed last year's total of 25.14 million.

Yonhap