The main articles are:
GDP
2023
1.4% GDP growth. ICT in 8th place in terms of income
At the end of 2023, the All-Russian Foreign Ministry of Korea increased by 1.4%, which is the minimum indicator for a three-year period. For comparison, in 2022 the growth was 2.6%, and in 2021 - 4.3%. Such data at the end of January 2024 was published by the Bank of Korea.
In 2023, investments in construction and infrastructure showed positive dynamics, while the growth of private and public consumption, exports and imports slowed down, the report said. According to Statista estimates, in South Korea, production is in first place in terms of revenues with a result of approximately 530.82 trillion Korean won (about $383.6 billion at the exchange rate as of July 3, 2024). Information and communication technologies are in eighth place with 94.86 trillion Korean won (approximately $68.55 billion).
According to the Institute for Statistical Research and Knowledge Economics of the Higher School of Economics, South Korea for ten years (until 2023) ranks second in the world in terms of research and development costs in GDP (4.9%) after Israel (5.6%). The stability of the indicator is influenced by high innovative business activity and state support for science: in 2013-2023, budget allocations for this item almost doubled - from 17.1 trillion to 30.7 trillion won.
However, some analysts point to certain difficulties that hinder the development of the South Korean economy. Among them are named weakening domestic demand, high interest rates and a sluggish recovery in exports after a downturn in the semiconductor industry.
 | Economic growth in Korea by the end of 2023 was better than expected, but in the short term, export development will slow down, and tough fiscal policy will continue to limit domestic demand, says Shivaan Tandon, a specialist at Capital Economics.[1] |  |
Fourteenth in the world in PPP GDP and long-term slowdown
GDP per capita is $55,000 per year and 6 years higher than Japan
2022
GDP estimate - $1.7 trillion
GDP size forecast - $1.8 trillion
2021: GDP size - $1.82 trillion
2020:1% GDP cut
South Korea ended the year of the COVID-19 pandemic with a slightly smaller fall than expected, as sustainable trade and the country's relative success in the fight against coronavirus helped reduce the damage to the economy.
GDP contracted by 1% in 2020, according to the Bank of Korea, which was slightly better than the 1.1% contraction predicted by economists.
The reduction is likely to be the smallest among the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Over 20 years, South Korea's GDP has grown by 220%.
2018: 1.89% of global GDP, 12th in the world
Financial system
Modern monetary theory
Main article: Modern Monetary Theory (SDT)
The financial policy of the country corresponds to the Modern Monetary Theory (SDT).
National debt
2023: State debt - 54% of GDP
Debt
2022: Aggregate non-financial debt
Sovereign Wealth Fund
Currency
Digital stench
Main article: South Korea's Digital Howl
Inflation/Deflation
Electronic Payment Systems
2020:77% of Internet users prefer cashless payment
Energy carriers
2023: Decline in LNG imports
2022: Increase in coal imports from Russia by 24%
Russian coal miners, through the provision of discounts, increased deliveries to South Korea by 24% in 2022, displacing the main player in this market - Australia. The growth of supplies was facilitated by a short transport arm from the Far East, as well as relatively affordable freight rates, which periodically allowed cargo to be sent to South Korea even from the ports of the European part of the Russian Federation.
Power
2024: South Korea - 33.7% dependent on Russian uranium
In September 2024, it became known that France was the country with the greatest dependence on the supply of Russian uranium among unfriendly countries. According to Eurostat and UN Comtrade, from January 2023 to June 2024, 60.5% of France's uranium imports fell on Russia, which is equivalent to $428.6 million. This figure makes France the leader in dependence on Russian supplies of enriched uranium among other countries, such as South Korea, Germany and the United States. Read more here
2022: Number of operating nuclear reactor plants - 24
2020: Energy consumption per capita
and
Mining
2022: Top 10 leading countries in the production of critical raw materials
Industry
2021: 1,000 robots per 10,000 employees
Information Technology
South Korea IT Market
Main article: South Korea's IT market
Main article: Smartphones (South Korea market)
Communication
Main Article: Communications (South Korea Market)
Semiconductors (South Korea market)
2024: $55 billion earmarked for semiconductor industry
2023: Attracting 150 companies and $234 billion in investments to build a microelectronic cluster
In March 2023, the Ministry of Trade and Industry of South Korea announced a project to attract 150 companies and $234 billion in investments to create by 2042 in the capital region the world's largest microelectronic cluster[2]. Plans to build five high-tech chip factories were also reported.
2021: Allocation of a subsidy of 1.5 trillion won and 1 trillion won of preferential loans for chip development
In light of fourth technological transition the country, it became important to develop non-memory sectors, competing the Taiwan TSMC with other companies. In addition, the Korean ecosystem semiconductor industry has significant vulnerabilities in the workforce, materials components and equipment. According to the relevant ministry, in the next 10 years, the industry will need approximately 150 thousand new personnel Why[3]
In this regard, guided by the need to develop system semiconductors, the Korean government adopted the strategies "System Semiconductor Vision and Strategy" (2019) and "K-Semiconductor (Belt) Strategy" (2021). Both documents are aimed at increasing competitiveness and expanding domestic production by strengthening the industry ecosystem[4]. Subsidies in the amount of 1.5 trillion won and soft loans in the amount of 1 trillion won will be allocated for the development of the next generation chips.
With the help of a set of support measures, the Republic of Korea intends to more than double the annual supply of chips abroad and reach $200 billion in 2030 from $99.2 billion in 2020. The investment plan for the decade amounted to 510 trillion won (~ $453 billion[5] [1]Learn more here.
Internet
Main article: Internet access (South Korea market)
Internet trade
2021: South Korea accounted for 30.1% of global retail online sales
Gaming industry
2018: For pumping someone else's account, games began to be sent to jail for 2 years
In early December 2018, an amendment to the law on the development of the gaming industry was adopted in South Korea, which will prohibit residents of the country from boosting accounts. The innovation will come into force in 6 months - in May 2019. The penalty for boosting will be imprisonment for up to two years or a fine of up to $18,000. Read more here.
R&D
2022
Foreign trade
Main article: South Korea's Foreign Trade
Weapon
Main article: Weapons in South Korea
Mechanical engineering
2019: 3.6 million cars produced
Retail
Main article: Retail in South Korea
Transport
2023: Eleventh in the world in terms of the number of cars sold - 1.7 million units
2022
563 public ESVs per 1,000 electric vehicles
Access to the roads of unmanned buses
On December 27, 2022, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of South Korea announced the start of operation of the country's first unmanned buses. During the three-month pilot project, you can make a trip by such a car for free. Read more here
Tourism
2023: Growth of tourist flow from Russia by 2.5 times
In 2023, approximately 158.8 thousand Russian tourists visited South Korea. This is about 2.5 times (165%) more than the previous year. Such a significant increase is associated with interest in Korean culture - music, cinema, games, as well as the popularity of excursion, educational and medical tourism to the country. Such data on April 1, 2024 is provided by the Russian Union of Travel Industry (PCT).
Lee Gyeongming, director of the Moscow office of the National Tourism Organization of Korea (NOTK), notes that among Russian travelers there are a lot of fans of Hallyu - the Korean wave associated with the popularization of national culture, pop music, cinema, television series (dramas) and games around the world. The Korean wave brings significant revenue to the South Korean budget.
| | For Russia, this [2024] year we have prepared several advertising projects, we will develop and support them together with tour operators offering tours to South Korea, says Gyeongming. | |
It is noted that a large number of tourists are attracted by the desire to observe the change of seasons in Korea. In particular, from January to March, these are themes of flowering, as well as holidays and festivals dedicated to the Buddha's birthday. From April to June, sea holidays are of interest, from June to September - red maples, from August to November - winter sports.
The popularity of educational tourism in the country is due to the fact that young people and adolescents actively watch Korean dramas, listen to pop music and want to learn Korean. There are specially developed routes to filming locations for such films and TV series as "Playing Squid," "Parasites," "Kingdom," etc. Travel to South Korea for medical purposes is most often associated with plastic surgery and severe illness, in particular malignant tumors.[6]
2018: $13 billion in tourist spending in the country
Alcohol market
2018: Minimum age to purchase alcoholic beverages
Agriculture
2019: High levels of pesticide use in agriculture
Labour market
2022: Proportion of workers aged 65 or over - above 30%
2018
Protection against overwork by forcing computers to shut down
Authorities in the South Korean capital will protect workers from overhauls by forcibly shutting down computers. The corresponding initiative will begin to be implemented in Seoul state institutions from March 30, 2018.
Working hours in South Korea are one of the longest in the world. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), employees of government agencies, including law enforcement and customs, work on average 2739 hours a year in South Korea. This is about a thousand hours more than in other developed countries, where the annual working time averages 1736 hours. In the United States, government employees work an average of 1834 hours, reports the New York Post.[7]
In Seoul, they decided to fight the practice of reworking, for which computers will be forcibly turned off in all government agencies on Friday evening. The initiative is planned to be implemented in three stages. From the end of March, computers on Fridays will be disconnected at 20:00 local time. In a month, the end of the working day and the shutdown of computers will be shifted another half hour earlier - at 19:30, and from May 2018, office PCs will go out on Fridays at 19:00.
According to an official statement from Seoul Municipality, the program affects all employees, however, in special cases, an exception may be made for workers. Interestingly, 67% of civil servants have already asked not to extend the "shutdown" to them and allow them to stay at work on Fridays, BBC News reports.[8]
In January 2018, South Korea's Minister for Gender Equality and the Family, Chung Hyun Back, called recycling one of the reasons for the country's low birth rate. The authorities also expect to improve demographics by reducing the duration of the working day.
Reduce workweek by 16 hours
On March 1, 2018, South Korea adopted a bill that reduces the working week by 16 hours, thanks to which the authorities expect to increase the birth rate in the country.
The law, which will reduce the working week for South Koreans from 68 to 52 hours, will come into force in July. Of these, 40 hours is the main time (eight hours a day with five working days), and 12 is overtime. Citizens under 18 will be able to work 35 hours a week instead of 40.
The new law primarily focuses on large companies with at least 300 employees. Small businesses will have to comply with the new rules from 2020.
Experts from the Economic Research Institute of South Korea estimate the total losses of employers from the new initiative at $11 billion per year.
A bill to reduce the working week was proposed by President Moon Jae-in, elected in 2017. At the beginning of 2018, he defended an increase in the minimum wage by 16%.
It is assumed that increasing free time will improve the quality of life of Korean citizens and increase labor productivity and employment in the country. In addition, supporters of the law are waiting for an increase in the birth rate, the indicator of which in 2017 set an anti-record.[9]
If Koreans rejoice in reducing the working week to 52 hours, then the Germans demand to reduce it to 28 hours. In particular, in early February 2018, such a requirement was supported by the largest trade union IG Metall in Germany, uniting almost 4 million people employed in the industrial sector.
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in 2016, South Korea was second only to Mexico and Costa Rica in terms of the duration of the working week. The OECD does not include China and India, which, according to experts, work the most.
In Russia, according to the Labor Code, you can work no more than 40 hours a week, and the average Russian gives work 1974 hours a year, or about 38 hours a week. Deputies are less supposed to work in ours. In 2017 , they reduced the working day on Friday - to five hours.
2015: More than 22.6% of workers work 60 or more hours a week
Unemployment
2023: Youth unemployment - 5.4%
2021: Record unemployment in 20 years - 5.4%
South Korea's unemployment rate has risen to its highest in 20 years, raising concerns that a stronger scar in the economy may be lurking behind the export-driven recovery process.
The unemployment rate jumped to 5.4% in January 2021 from 4.5% revised last month to reach its highest level since the Asian financial crisis.
The result beat all previous forecasts, with the economy losing nearly a million jobs compared to last year and suffering its biggest losses since 1998.
2020: Unemployment rate - 4.1%
2018: Unemployed youth leave the country
South Korea's high youth unemployment rates are forcing more and more young people to leave the country to work abroad. One-third is heading to Japan, which has experienced severe labor shortages in recent years. Other popular destinations are the United States, Singapore and Australia.
Incomes of the population
2023: Minimum wage - $1,333
2022: There are 1.254 million millionaires in the country
Pensions
2020: Average retirement age is 65
Consumption
2024: Dog meat ban
In January 2023, South Korea's parliament approved a landmark law banning the consumption of dog meat.
2023: Fish consumption is higher than meat consumption
2022: Vegetarian share increases to 2.5%
Notes
- ↑ South Korea's economy grew faster than expected in Q4
- ↑ Korea Semiconductor Device Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends & Forecasts (2023 - 2028), Mordor Intelligence, accessed July 18, 2023
- ↑ Korea's worried about its systematically strong semiconductor industry ', Hankyoren, Jul 22, 2022, accessed July 17, 2023.
- ↑ Korea to Emerge as the Center of the Global Semiconductor Supply Chain, Invest Korea, accessed July 18, 2023
- ↑ ) S. Korea to emerge as No. 1 chip powerhouse with 510 tln-won investment by 2030", Yonhap News Agency, May 3, 2021, accessed July 18, 2023.
- ↑ PCT: tourist flow from Russia to South Korea in 2023 increased by more than 2.5 times
- ↑ South Korea shutting off government computers so employees will go home
- ↑ South Korea to shut off computers to stop people working late
- ↑ South Korea cuts 'inhumanely long' 68-hour working week
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