South Koreans have directly invested over 16 trillion won in overseas tax havens over the past five years, a lawmaker said Sunday, citing government data.
Rep. An Min-suk of the main opposition Democratic Party, releasing data obtained from the National Tax Service, the Korea Customs Service and other government agencies, said South Korean individuals and enterprises funneled 16.15 trillion won ($14.4 billion) in direct investment into a number of overseas tax havens, including the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, the Philippines and Singapore, between 2008 and 2012.
The amount of direct investments into the tax havens totaled $2.43 billion in 2008, $1.86 billion in 2009, $3.73 billion in 2010, $3.29 billion in 2011 and $3.09 billion in 2012, according to the data.
The five-year direct investment of over 16 trillion won accounted for 12 percent of their entire overseas investment of $118.2 billion in the same period, the data showed.
Large conglomerates accounted for 78 percent, or $11.28 billion, of the tax haven direct investment.
