China’s leading online travel agency (OTA) Trip.com will be joining the race to acquire South Korea’s online retail platform Interpark Corp. as the company aims to expand its presence in Korea's travel and culture segments. Trip.com is currently the world's No. 2 online travel platform.

Trip.com’s participation is expected to draw attention from industry watchers since the company will be competing against Korea's top travel and accommodation platform, Yanolja, which is also pushing to acquire Interpark amid its efforts to transform into a comprehensive leisure platform.

So far, around seven candidates have received the IMs. Yanolja and Trip.com have already kicked off the process of hiring advisors, reflecting their strong determination to take over the first-generation online retail platform.

The bid to acquire Interpark is expected to heat up with major OTAs from China and Korea competing against each other.

But Trip.com replied that the news was not true as it had no any plans about acquiring the platform.