materials and technology at the expense of consumer goods and
encouraged savings and investment over consumption. The Asian
financial crisis of 1997-99 exposed longstanding weaknesses in South
Korea's development model, including high debt/equity ratios,
massive foreign borrowing, and an undisciplined financial sector.
Growth plunged to a negative 6.6% in 1998, then strongly recovered
to 10.8% in 1999 and 9.2% in 2000. Growth fell back to 3.3% in 2001
because of the slowing global economy, falling exports, and the
perception that much-needed corporate and financial reforms had
stalled. Led by consumer spending and exports, growth in 2002 was an
impressive 6.2%, despite anemic global growth, followed by moderate
2.8% growth in 2003. In 2003 the National Assembly approved
legislation reducing the six-day work week to five days.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $857.8 billion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
3.1% (2003 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $17,800 (2003 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 3.6%
industry: 36.4%
services: 60% (2003 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
29.6% of GDP (2003)

Population below poverty line:
4% (2001 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2.9%
highest 10%: 22.5% (1999 est.)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
31.6 (1993)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
3.6% (2003 est.)

Labor force:
22.92 million (2003)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 8.8%, industry 19.1%, services 72.1% (2001)

Unemployment rate:
3.4% (2003 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $135.5 billion
expenditures: $128.7 billion, including capital expenditures of
$23.5 billion (2003)

Public debt:
13.8% of GDP (2003)

Agriculture - products:
rice, root crops, barley, vegetables, fruit; cattle, pigs,
chickens, milk, eggs; fish

Industries:
electronics, telecommunications, automobile production, chemicals,
shipbuilding, steel

Industrial production growth rate:
5.1% (2003 est.)

Electricity - production:
290.7 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - consumption:
270.3 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
2.14 million bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
804,700 bbl/day (2001)

Oil - imports:
2.965 million