Overseas Card Spending Soars Over May-Day Holidays

Overseas credit card spending surged about 65 percent during the long holiday earlier this month that gave many over a week's break if they took just two days off work.

KB Kookmin Card said Tuesday that overseas spending on its credit cards from April 29 to May 9 totaled W25.4 billion, up 64.5 percent compared to the same period a year ago (US$1=W1,118).

Many Koreans took advantage of the break to go abroad. Domestic spending grew only 12.6 percent over the same period.

Japan was where Koreans spent the most money over the holiday, followed by the U.S., Vietnam, Italy and France.

China, which ranked third last year, sank to ninth place this year as many avoided traveling there amid an unofficial Chinese boycott over Seoul's decision to deploy a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery from the U.S. here.