S. Korea is 2nd most attractive Asian nation for foreign investment: survey

SEOUL, Dec. 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is the second most attractive destination
for foreign investment in Asia, a survey by a state-run trade promotion body
showed Wednesday.
In a poll conducted by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) on 261
foreign firms, in Asia, Europe and North America, South Korea ranked second on a
measure of investment attractiveness with a score of 6.8 points out of a perfect
score of 10. Singapore took the top spot with 6.98 points, while the other four
Asian countries in the survey, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and Malaysia, received
6.54, 6.22, 6.21 and 6.14 points, respectively.
The total score was based on 19 assessment criteria, among which South Korea beat
its rivals on technological sophistication and scored high in areas such as
market size, growth potential, workforce capacity, protection of intellectual
property rights and government policies to promote investment.
The country, however, ranked low in terms of taxation and wage costs, as well as
language barriers.
ecuedy@yna.co.kr
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