A famous Korean TV series featuring a romance between a soldier and a doctor in a fictional war-torn nation is drawing hundreds of travelers from Vietnam this week, the state-run travel organization said Tuesday.

About 800 Vietnamese tourists will visit South Korea on group packages arranged by 18 travel agencies to visit major sightseeing areas and filming locations of the KBS drama, "Descendants of the Sun," the Korea Tourism Organization said. The 16-episode series drama was aired by HTV2 in Vietnam earlier this year.

(KBS 2TV)

They will gather in AW Convention Center in Seoul to attend the "gala dinner" on Friday, which will feature actors and actresses, original soundtrack singers as well as two Vietnamese pop groups from Vietnam.

The KTO said the event is part of its efforts to lure more travelers from Southeast Asian nations by taking advantage of the Korean pop culture boom.

Star Cinema, a leading Filipino film production and distribution company, will shoot major scenes of a romantic comedy, "My Ex and Whys," in Seoul from Nov. 10-16.

The KTO will also support the filming of Thai soap opera, "The Legal Wife", which will feature scenes in the southern cities of Busan, Goeje and Tongyoung from Nov. 11-20. The drama based on a popular Thai novel will be aired on Thai CH3 in March.

"We plan to use the Korean Wave to attract more travelers from the Southeast Asian nations by offering hands-on experiences of cultural and entertainment content," Yoo Jin-ho, a KTO official, said.

A total of 915,000 travelers Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand visited South Korea in the first nine months of this year, up 36.9 percent from a year ago, the KTO said. (Yonhap)