Investors scouring the world for yield turn to S. Korea

SEOUL: South Korea is looking increasingly alluring to some global debt investors who see it as an oasis of decent yields amid more volatile markets elsewhere.

That appeal has helped non-government-owned Korean companies such as SK Hynix Inc boost overall overseas bond issuance to an eight-year high. The surge is all the more striking given the risks with South Korea: a nasty trade spat with Japan, economic growth that’s forecast to be the slowest in a decade, and uncertainty with the communist regime in the north of the peninsula.