According to Yonhap News,

(HONG KONG=Yonhap News) According to a report by Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post on March 16, Mergermarket announced that Chinese investment in Korea reached USD 631 million (KRW 716.3 billion) in 2014, a 374 percent increase year-on-year.

Chinese investment in Korea continues to rise this year; China’s Anbang Insurance Group recently acquired Korea’s Tong Yang Life Insurance (KRW 1.1 trillion).

The surge in Chinese investment in Korea is due to the expectation of the Chinese that the free trade agreement (FTA) between Korea and China will expand investment in Korean companies, enhancing their value. This has triggered preemptive Chinese investment in Korea.

"Both the number of Chinese investment cases in Korea and the investment volume have risen since 2013. Chinese investment in Korea is expected to continue expanding in the near future, as the two countries are likely to sign their bilateral FTA this year," said Jennifer Zhang, a Shanghai-based financial researcher at Mergermarket.

On the other hand, Chinese investment in Japan totaled USD 67 million in 2014, a 72 percent increase year-on-year and about one-ninth China’s investment in Korea.

harrison@yna.co.kr

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Source Text

Source: Yonhap News (March 16, 2015)

** This article was translated from the Korean.