Foreign Direct Investment In KOREA

1. Change from "Control and Regulation" to "Promotion and Support" Promotional efforts by the Korean government obtained the first inflows of foreign capital in 1962. Following its initial success, the government was somewhat passive about inducing further inflows for quite a while, being afraid that multinational enterprises would dominate most lucrative sectors of the domestic economy. At the same time, foreign capital gained by loan inducement seemed much easier to control than direct foreign investment. This growth …

…Although there has been a fall in FDI in August, we feel that this is a temporary decline. In fact, FDI in September is rising sharply again. Korean FDI environment of today is rapidly changing and improving. The first stage of financial sector restructuring was completed in September 1998, and the Foreign Investment Promotion Act will come into effect in December of this year. Therefore, we expect foreign direct investment in Korea to continue to increase.