BEIJING--South Korea and China held a ceremony in Beijing on Thursday as the number of the two nations visitors to each others' country surpassed 10 million people last year.
  
The number of Chinese visitors to South Korea soared 46 percent from a year ago to 6.33 million people last year, while the number of South Korean visitors to China, excluding Hong Kong and Macau, grew 3.6 percent to 4.1 million, according to the South Korean Embassy.
  
The surge was fueled by a growing popularity of Korean pop music and TV dramas and a gradual appreciation of the Chinese currency.
  
About 200 officials from the two nations, including South Korean Ambassador to China, Kim Jang-oo, and Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Jianchao, attended the event.
  
To further enhance people-to-people exchanges between the two nations, South Korea and China set this year as "The Year of Visit to China" and next year as "The Year of Visit to Korea." (Yonhap)