New foreign direct investment pledged to South Korea surged significantly from a year earlier in the first half on a large increase in fresh investment pledges from China, the government said Tuesday.

In the first six months of the year, the amount of new FDI pledged to the country came to $10.33 billion, up 29.2 percent from the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The figure marks the highest-ever amount for the first half.

The amount of new FDI that arrived here in the first half also surged to a record high of $7.2 billion, up 55.9 percent from a year earlier. Kwon Pyung-oh, head of the ministry’s trade and investment bureau, earlier said the increase in new FDI showed the strength of the local economy.(Yonhap)