Two South Korea visa application centers in Guangzhou, Guangdong province and Qingdao, Shandong province will be put into use from Sep 14, South Korea's authorities announced on Sep 6.

The visa application centers, run by South Korea's largest travel agency HanaTour, will receive and deliver visas (excluding diplomatic, official and group visas) and offer counseling services. This will guarantee timely issuance of visas to meet the rising demands from Chinese visitors to South Korea.

The South Korean Consulates in China will still take charge of visa approvals.

South Korea issued 3.32 million visas in China last year, according to South Korea's authorities. Officials said South Korea will decide whether to launch more visa application centers across China, on the basis of the two centers' operation.