Foreign direct investment(FDI) in South Korea dropped more than ten percent in the first half of 2024 compared to a year ago. 

According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Friday, FDI commitments in the first six months of the year reached 15-point-34 billion dollars. 

The figure represents a fall of ten-point-three percent from a year earlier when it posted an all-time high of over 17 billion dollars due in part to President Yoon Suk Yeol’s trips to the United States and Europe.  

The amount of investment that actually arrived in South Korea came to six-point-nine billion dollars over the period, down 17-point-four percent year-on-year. 

By sector, manufacturing attracted eight-point-13 billion dollars in the first half, up six-point-five percent from a year earlier, while the services industry drew six-point-41 billion dollars, down 24-point-three percent on-year. 

The ministry said despite continued economic difficulties amid geopolitical uncertainties and high interest rates, the first-half figure for FDI pledges remained above the five-year average of eleven-point-seven billion dollars.