XINHUA, SEOUL: Online shopping in South Korea hit a new monthly high in September as purchase in the cyberspace increased ahead of the traditional Chuseok holiday, a government report showed yesterday. Transaction in the cyberspace amounted to the largest-ever 6.84 trillion won (6.14 billion US dollars) in September, according to Statistics Korea.

It was up 27.6 per cent from a year earlier as consumers purchased gifts online ahead of the 10-day Chuseok holiday, the South Korean version of Thanksgiving Day.

Food and beverage purchase in the cyberspace jumped 54.1 per cent in September from a year ago on demand for preparations for the holiday food.

Online reservation for overseas trip expanded 17.5 per cent as many South Koreans went on a trip aboard during the unusually-long holiday period.

Meanwhile, direct sale by local companies to Chinese consumers in the cyberspace jumped 32.6 per cent over the year to 591 billion won in the July-September quarter.

The number of Chinese tourists visiting South Korea tumbled to 662,000 in the third quarter from 2,182,000 in the same quarter of last year.