Chinese Consulate to Open New Seoul Office on October 17

The consulate of the Chinese Embassy will resume visa issuance operations beginning on October 17 after the relocation of the office to where an old Chinese restaurant called Dongboseong used to be near Mt. Namsan, from the Kyobo Building in Sejong-no, Jongno-gu, Seoul.

The new office is located next to the ticket office for the Namsam cable car, 500m away from the third gate of Myeongdong station on the subway line number four. It will become the largest Chinese consulate in the world, with the floor space of 3,544 m² built on a 2,000 m² lot (with two stories above and one underground).

The Chinese embassy announced, “The booming exchanges between two nations have increased the visa workload dramatically, to the point that as many as 1.35 million visas are being issued. The new office will give more convenience to visa applicants.”

Jae-Young Kim redfoot@donga.com