Seoul, Sept. 17 -- As trade negotiations between South Korea and the United States remain deadlocked, concerns are rising that expanding investment in the US could accelerate the hollowing out of Korea's domestic manufacturing industry, as per a report by Pulse, the English service of Maeil Business Newspaper Korea.

At a National Assembly forum, Professor Hur Jung of Sogang University, who chairs the Korean Association of Trade and Industry Studies, said, according to the Pulse report, that unlike earlier waves of foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, the recent surge of FDI in the US has coincided with declines in both manufacturing jobs and value-added output in Korea.

"Between 2000 and 2010, when Korea's FDI in China surged, the ...