China became South Korea's second- largest investment destination in 2014, indicating a rising demand among South Korean companies for investment into one of the world' s fastest growing economies, central bank data showed Thursday.
Outstanding external investment stood at 716.6 billion U.S. dollars as of end-2014, up 95.5 billion dollars from a year earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
The United States kept the No.1 position among South Korea's investment destinations, with 173.6 billion dollars, or 24.2 percent of the total, invested into the world's largest economy.
China became the No.2 place for the country's foreign investment with 132.4 billion dollars, beating the European Union (EU) into which South Korea invested 127.2 billion dollars as of end-2014.
China ranked third in terms of South Korea's investment destination in 2013, beating the ASEAN nations, and rose to the second place in 2014 after outpacing the EU.
South Korea's investment into China more than doubled in the past four years from 64.1 billion dollars at the end of 2010.
By currency, the country's U.S. dollar investment was 360.6 billion dollars, or 50.3 percent of the total, as of end-2014. It was followed by the Chinese yuan with 98.6 billion dollars and the euro with 58.1 billion dollars.
