Speech #1050119768

I support raising the disquahficallon rate to 3% at this lime. This will bring In Greece and Portugal now. andI hopeSouth Korea before long. My stale of Hawaii has seen many affluent Korean touristsand tour groups as wellwho are quite Interested in visiting Hawaiiand the West Coast as wall--but who are discouraged by the visa process. Australia. and other countries get these precious travel dollars. because the South Koreans can enter there without a visa. South Koreas tourism market is estimated at about billion dollars a year. The average visitor spends more than $2.000 In the U.S.. not Including aldaro. The strong demand for U.S. visas has not escaped the notice of airlines and the rest of the travel and tourism induslry. Like the European countries that do participate. the U.S. and South Korea have close hislortcat ties. a military alliance. and a very strong trade relatonship. In fact. South Korea is our sixth largest trading partner. Much has boon said about Greece and Portugal being the only European Union countries that are still Ineligible for visa waiveis. Allow me to point out that the refusal rate of 2% means thai Japan is the only East Asian coun-