The Korea Times
Korea is becoming less attractive as a base for Asia-Pacific headquarters for U.S. companies, with Hong Kong overtaking it, the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) in Korea said Wednesday. AMCHAM attributed the result partly to Korea's inflexible labor market and regulations that are not aligned with global standards. According to a survey of AMCHAM members, only 11.8 percent of respondents said Korea is the preferred destination for their Asia-Pacific headquarters, while 58.8 percent chose Singapore and 17.6 percent picked Hong Kong. This marks the first time since 2022 that Korea has fallen to third place. After strict lockdown measures in Hong Kong and mainland China during the COVID-19 pandemic, Korea had maintained its ranking in the second spot, surpassing Japan, Hong Kong and China. Until last year, Korea had also hosted the second-largest number of Asia-Pacific headquarters of AMCHAM members, following Singapore. However, Korea has lost that status to Hong Kong this year as well. AMCHAM said it continues to analyze exactly which factors led to the shift, though it views Korea's re
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