The Republic of Korea (South Korea)

Introduction

The Republic of Korea is a small country located in the far eastern region of Asia. The country is a centre of economic activity, culture and arts (www.korea.net, 2014). As of 2013, the total population of South Korea is 50.2 million, out of which 25 million resides in Seoul Capital area. They are one of the countries with the highest population densities worldwide (www.statista.com, 2014). After the Korean War (1950-1953), the country achieved incredible economic growth in a very short period of time, known as “Miracle on the Han River” (www.korea.net, 2014). The country is very well known for its televised drama, films and popular music that have swept many parts of Asia. This is known as the “Hallyu”, or the “Korean wave”.
The next section will discuss the different gross domestic product (GDP) indicators, followed by a labour market analysis and a price level analysis. This essay will end with a conclusion.

Production output performance analysis

Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the market value of all final goods and services produced in a country in a given time period. A final good is an item bought by its final customer (Parkin, 2010). An intermediate good is excluded in the GDP, to avoid double counting. The graph above shows South Korea’s GDP over the last 10 years. The country’s economy has been growing rapidly in big numbers. However, due to the global economic crisis in end-2008 and 2009, and the country being heavily dependent on exports (www.marketoracle.co.uk, 2008), their GDP dropped to a record low of USD$834.06 billion in the last 10 years. Being one of the fastest countries to recover with soaring growth rates in just less than a year, the country’s GDP increased an astonishing 21.7% from an economic crisis. From then on, an increasing trend is spotted in South Korea’s GDP.