South Korea's economy is estimated to have grown 1-point-1 percent in the second quarter of this year.
This is a dramatic turnaround from the previous quarter when GDP shrank by the largest amount since the 2008 financial crisis.
For more, our Kim Da-mi is on the line with us at the Bank of Korea.
Dami, tell us more.
Hi Mark,
South Korea's GDP grew by an estimated 1-point-1 percent in the April-to-June period.
According to Bank of Korea, the figure marks the highest on-quarter growth since the third quarter of 2017...when the economy grew 1-point-5 percent.
The country's economy increased at an annualized rate of 2-point-1 percent in the second quarter, also marking the highest growth since the final quarter of 2018.
But the latest 1-point-1 percent figure is still below of the central bank's estimated 1-point-2 percent goal, right?
Right, and it's not all good news because the previous quarter's figure was so low,...and also because the growth was partly caused by the government's increased consumption on health care benefits.
Government consumption increased by 2-point-5 percent, which is a huge jump from the zero-point-4 percent increase in the previous quarter.
Exports in the second quarter increased 2-point-3 percent from three months earlier... thanks to increased exports in motor vehicles and semiconductors.
Imports also went up by 3 percent, owing to increased imports of machinery.
Facilities investment grew by 2-point-4 percent, led by the growth of investment in transportation equipment.
But all these numbers are not as good as they seem.
Exports only rose by 1-point-5 percent compared to the same period last year.
And facility investment, in fact, dropped by almost 8 percent compared to the same period last year.
Real gross domestic income, GDI, decreased by point-6 percent compared to the previous quarter because of the worsened trade terms.
With exports on a steady decline since December,...analysts note that it will be a challenge to reach the central bank's economic growth forecast of 2-point-2 percent.
And under Japan's export restrictions,...the country's economy in the second half of the year may get worse.
The Bank of Korea said it's too early to comment on the country's economic growth, but it will carefully monitor the U.S.-China trade war, as well as Japan's latest export curbs.
That's all from me, Mark.
