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Carrefour, the French supermarket chain, has revealed it will invest US$200 million (W212 billion) in Korea next year. Carrefour Korea President Philippe Broianigo said in a press conference Thursday that the chain has prescribed this budget to open three new stores in Hwaseong, Inchoen and Jeonju and remodel a further seven stores.
He added that the chain's Chairman Daniel Bernard plans to sign an investment agreement when President Roh Moo-hyun makes his European tour in early December.
Until recently, rumors abounded that Carrefour would draw its business in Korea to a close following its decision to abandon the project to open a store in a new shopping mall in Yongin and a number of delays to other store launches. Broianigo dismissed the rumors as groundless speculation.
He said that Carrefour considers the Asian market an important one and sees high potential in investing in Korean, adding that despite speculation of the Korean economy experiencing a recession, it is not in as fragile a state as Europe's economic indexes.
Since it entered the Korean market in 1996, the discount retail giant has opened 27 stores across the country and invested W1.6 trillion, of which W46 billion was channeled into stores this year.
(Son Jeong-mi, jmson@chosun.com )
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