Sino-Korean economic relationship growing closer

Korea emerged as the third largest foreign investor in China after Hong Kong and Japan in 2003.
The Korea International Trade Association's Trade Research Institute (TRI) reported that Korean investment in China topped US $4.05 billion in the first nine months of last year, up 49% from 2002 when South Korea was the fifth largest investor in its giant neighbor.
In the same period, Hong Kong invested US $15.75 billion and Japan invested US $4.23 billion in China.
Korean investment in China has been picking up since the 1998 currency crisis. It stood at US $1.28 billion in 1999 and surged more than three times to US $4.05 billion in four years.
The increasing momentum of Korean investment in China is noteworthy, in view of the fact that global investment in China rose by 0.2% in the first 11 months last year over the same period in 2002, a TRI official said.
"About 80% of Korean investment in China last year went into the manufacturing sector," an official ar the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) said.
In addition, China replaced the United States as Korea's largest importer last year.
Between January and September 2003, Korean exports to China reached US $23.12 billion, while its exports to the U.S. amounted to US $22.81 billion. China took in 17.7% of Korea's global exports for the first none months of the year, KITA said.
The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE) predicted exports to China will reach US $35.7 billion this year, up 50.3% over last year. Exports to the U.S. are forecast to hit US $34.2 billion this year, up 4.3% from 2003.