Foreign direct investment into South Korea jumps 19.3 pct in Q1

Foreign direct investment into South Korea posted a double-digit growth in the first quarter of this year due to investment demand from the European Union and China, a government report showed Monday.

A total of 4.24 billion U.S. dollars was reported as foreign direct investment into the Asia's No.4 economy during the January-March period, up 19.3 percent from the same period of last year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Europe's investment surged 405.8 percent from a year earlier to 1.76 billion dollars in the first quarter as European companies increased investment into services sector.

Chinese companies invested money in manufacturing industry at 380 million dollars in the first quarter, up 603.8 percent from a year earlier.

U.S. investment tumbled 56.2 percent to 550 million dollars due to weaker demand for investment into services sector.

Investment from Japan also dropped 44.4 percent to 160 million dollars.

Foreign direct investment into South Korea's manufacturing industry jumped 226.1 percent from a year ago to 1.26 billion dollars, while those for services sector inched down 0.6 percent to 2.95 billion dollars.