The new Consulate-General of South Korea in Qingdao, located at No 88, Yangchun Road, Chengyang district, was inaugurated on Dec 8, reported bandao.cn.

Qingdao, East China's Shandong province, was the first city to open economic and trade cooperation with South Korea after China began the reform and opening-up, and South Korea is the first country to set up a consulate-general in Qingdao after New China was founded in 1949.

The Consulate-General of South Korea in Qingdao has played a vital role in promoting exchanges in economy, culture and talent since it was launched in 1994.

At present, South Korea is Qingdao's largest trade partner and second largest investor.

Qingdao’s January-October data show that the number of South Korea’s projects in Qingdao rose by 45.2 percent over the same period in 2014 to 289, with $1.22 billion in contractual foreign investment . Qingdao invested $244 million in 129 projects in South Korea.

During those ten months, the value of trade between Qingdao and South Korea totaled $6.43 billion, accounting for 11.4 percent of Qingdao’s total export-import volume.

In addition, to meet the rising demand from Chinese visitors to South Korea, the South Korea visa application center in Qingdao was put into use from Sept 14. It is run by HanaTour, South Korea's largest travel agency. It receives and delivers visas (excluding diplomatic, official and group visas) and offers counseling services, which guarantees timely issuance of visas. South Korean Consulates in China still take charge of visa approvals.