Korean Air has launched new flight services linking Incheon International Airport with the Chinese cities of Yantai and Dalian.

Passenger flights to the two cities will leave Incheon, South Korea's main international gateway, once daily, Korean Air said.

Korean Air plans to use its 187-seat B737-900 jets for Yantai, on China's southeastern coast, and its 266-seat A300-600 air crafts for Dalian, northeastern China.

The company's decision follows a bilateral aviation agreement sealed two months ago which promised to greatly boost the number of flights connecting the two countries.

In January 2006, the South Korean government issued a travel warning for Koreans traveling to several Chinese cities, citing continuing crimes against its citizens staying or traveling in China.

The South Korean Embassy in Beijing said it had been receiving a growing number of reports about such serious crimes as murder, robbery and kidnapping targeting Koreans in the eastern Chinese cities of Qingdao, Shandong Province, and Shenyang, in Liaoning Province.