The total number of foreign companies operating in South Korea saw more than a twofold rise in the last decade, the government said in a report Wednesday.
The National Tax Service (NTS) released a report showing a total of 9,612 foreign companies operating in South Korea as of 2008, a sharp rise
from the 4,317 figure in 1998.
Among the 9,612 foreign companies, 6,593 of them were financed by foreign investment and the rest were subsidiaries or branch offices of the
foreign firms, according to the NTS.
The report added U.S. corporations had the largest presence among subsidiaries or branch offices in South Korea as it accounted for 13 percent with 391, followed by Japan with 12.6 percent, Hong Kong and China with 4 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively.
Also, nearly 80 percent of the foreign firms were located in the Seoul metropolitan area, with Seoul having 62.3 percent of the offices, the report said.