According to the statistics released by the Export-Import Bank of Korea, foreign direct investment by Korean SMEs reached US$15.4 billion in 2019, up from US$6.9 billion in 2016, the Chosunilbo reported on December 1. Korean SMEs have started to move production lines abroad, especially China and Vietnam, before the COVID-19 due to relatively high production costs. The number of SMEs moving production lines abroad increased from 1,684 in 2016 to 2,063 in 2019, indicating SMEs built more than 2,000 overseas factories per year during the period 2016-2019.As of the June 31, 2020, the accumulative investment of SMEs abroad reached US$6.1 billion, down 20% year-on-year due to the pandemic. The findings of a survey conducted by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency on 1,028 SMEs suggest only 4.2% of SMEs considered downsizing their overseas production. 66.7% of SMEs were not moving back manufacturing to Korea because of high production costs, 58.3% because of unfavorable labor conditions such as the hiked minimum wages and shortened working days, 33% because of red tape, and 25% because of the shortage of workers. The trend, if the government does not take effective measures to stop the outflow, will likely to continue.