Shanghai, China: Korean expatriates living in China recently celebrated the country’s week-long National Day holiday with a golf tournament at Shanghai Silport.

The 4th National Korean Golf Tournament, organised by the China Korean Golf Association, featured a field of 114 men and women players from all over the country to take part.

The attendance of these professional was testament to the increasing presence of Korean businesses operating in the country. At present, China is South Korea’s third largest export market and increasingly an important manufacturing and retail base for such multinationals as Samsung Electronics and Hyundai.

Last year, trade volume between the two countries was US$44.07 billion. Despite the SARS outbreak on the mainland earlier this year, the figure will be surpassed in 2003 as through May the volume stood at US$22.7 billion, a 44.5 percent increase over the same period a year earlier.

South Korean exports as of May were US$12.39 billion, up 48.3 percent over the same period a year earlier. Also, during the first quarter of 2003, the country had invested about US$316 million into China, a 66 percent increase year-on-year.

Chi Yuan-jun of Hengshan Travel Agency, co-organiser of the tournament, said the lives of South Korean expats living in China largely centered around work and being away from their family, the Silport event provided an excellent opportunity to see old friends.

South Korea’s love of golf has also become well known in recent years as the country has produced two of the world top players in PGA Tour and LPGA Tour stars Choi Kyung-ju and Pak Se-ri. At Silport, their amateur counterpart also showed their solid play on the fairways and greens.

Playing under an individual and team format, Li Yuanri took the gross championship of the men’s section while Hong Chunzhi was the nett champion. With the ladies, Yin Shunjin was the gross champion and Yu Lan the nett champion.

The team gross champion went to a group representing Tianjin.