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Emigrants and overseas Koreans took a record W1 trillion (US$1 billion) in assets out of the country in the first five months of this year. The Bank of Korea said Sunday migration of Koreans’ assets leaving the country or taken out by overseas Koreans recorded US$1.041 billion between January and May, a 48.7 percent increase over the same period of last year.
Some US$245 million of the money was taken out by emigrants to set themselves up in their new homes, a 39.8 percent increase over the same period last year. The remaining US$759.1 million were real estate, stocks and other assets sold in Korea by overseas Koreans who took the proceeds abroad, a 51.9 percent jump on-year.]
While some of the steep increase is due to growing numbers of Koreans leaving the country, a major reason is the strong won ? traded at one point at W900 to the dollar ? which prompted many to swap their Korean assets for greenbacks.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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