Nearly half of foreign-invested firms in South Korea are happy with conditions for their business here with more than half saying conditions have improved over the few past years, a report showed Monday.

In a recent survey, 47.5 percent of foreign-invested firms here said they were satisfied with the business conditions in the country, up 29.2 percentage points from 18.3 percent in 2009, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency said in a press release.

More than half, or 52.5 percent, also said they thought their business environments have improved over the past year.

The survey was conducted by Gallup Korea on 200 officials from foreign-invested firms, according to KOTRA.

About four out of every 10 people surveyed said their reason for investing in South Korea was to find a market here while 24.5 percent said they were here for the country’s growth potential.

Only 8 percent said they were seeking to set up a global network with 4.5 percent saying incentives from the South Korean government were what had attracted them.

As major obstacles or difficulties to their business, the respondents pointed to their lack of information on the country’s tax system, insufficient English skills of their workers and high wages.

They said difficulties in finding skilled workers and high rental fees, as well as traffic congestion, were also making their lives and business here difficult.

In a separate question about their satisfaction with their living conditions here, 67.4 percent said they were happy with their current situation, down from 69.7 percent in 2009, KOTRA said. (Yonhap News)