Border tensions cost South Korean frontier counties $22 mil. in tourism, damage

South Korea's border regions saw tourism spending fall by more than 30 billion won ($22 million) and reported hundreds of millions of won in direct damage during 2024 and 2025, when North Korea's trash-filled balloon launches and tit-for-tat loudspeaker broadcasts under the former Yoon Suk Yeol administration escalated inter-Korean tensions.

According to the data submitted by Gyeonggi and Gangwon provinces to the office of Woo Won-shik of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) on Friday, Gyeonggi Province reported a total of 24 incidents of damage worth 414.42 million won across 10 cities and counties as a result of North Korea’s waste balloon launches between May 28, 2024, and November 28, 2025.

Border regions also experienced a sharp decline in tourism spending during the same period.

Data from the Korea Tourism Data Lab showed that combined tourism spending in the five border counties in Gangwon Province — Cheorwon, Hwacheon, Yanggu, Inje and Goseong — fell from 444.45 billion won in 2023 to 414.15 billion won in 2024, marking a decrease of more than 30 billion won. Though tourism spending in 2025 slightly rebounded to 416.98 billion won, it was still approximately 27.5 billion won lower than in 2023, before tensions between the two Koreas began to escalate in earnest.

The number of visitors followed a similar trend. Total visitors to the five border counties in Gangwon Province fell from approximately 37.36 million in 2023 to about 35.47 million in 2024, a decrease of roughly 1.89 million.

Woo said the figures also showed signs of recovery after loudspeaker broadcasts across the inter-Korean border were halted.

“The figures show that visitor numbers and sales in commercial districts in border areas began to recover after the two Koreas stopped their loudspeaker broadcasts,” Woo said in a statement. “This shows why it is important to consistently pursue a North Korea policy aimed at easing tensions.”

While the figures do not establish that military tensions alone caused the decline in tourism, they highlight the economic vulnerability of communities near the inter-Korean border when security concerns intensify.

Those concerns have resurfaced following a Sept. 21 land mine explosion inside the Demilitarized Zone that injured three South Korean soldiers. South Korea’s military blamed North Korea for the blast, while Pyongyang denied responsibility and accused Seoul of fabricating the findings, raising fears that renewed tensions could again weigh on tourism and local businesses in border areas.