Korea has attracted around $500 million of investment from Chinese investors in the areas of next-generation technologies, including chips, bio, automobiles and robots, through a ministerial roundtable, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Tuesday. 

The ministerial roundtable was held in Beijing on Tuesday, inviting 12 Chinese investors, including chip firm JCET, bio companies Evercare and Fujian Ruico, automakers BAIC and Siasun Robot and content providers Spearhead and IIE Star. 

The investment was made in various forms such as sole investment, joint corporation with Korean companies and investment in shares. Some of the Chinese companies made the decisions to work with Korea with the aim of advancing into the US, the European Union and ASEAN by utilizing Korea’s multiple free trade deals, according to the government. 

The roundtable attended by Industry Minister Paik Un-gyu resumed as a follow-up measure after the Korea-China summit in December last year during which the two sides agreed to promote economic exchanges.

Since the summit, investments from China surged to reach $1 billion in the first quarter of this year after falling 60 percent on-year to $810 million last year due mainly to Beijing’s retaliation against Korea’s deployment of a US missile defense system.

Paik said at the roundtable this is a golden time for Korea and China to expand investment and cooperation toward the future-oriented relationship as “tensions are relaxed and cooperative atmosphere is created in Northeast Asia with the inter-Korean summit in April as a momentum.”

“Cooperation is needed in the areas of new industries in terms of global standards, joint researches and manpower exchanges,” he added.

The ministry plans to support matching Korean companies with technological prowess and Chinese companies hoping to set up join corporation or exchange technologies.

Foreign direct investment in Korea reached $22 billion last year, a 7.7 percent rise on-year. In March, Korea set a goal of attracting more than $20 billion of foreign direct investment this year to top $20 billion for four straight years.

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)