is
also low, and some labor bottlenecks have appeared in several processing
industries. While the South Korean economy is expected to grow at more
than 5% annually during the 1990s, labor unrest--which led to
substantial wage hikes in 1987-89--threatens to undermine
noninflationary growth.

GNP: $200 billion, per capita $4,600; real growth rate 6.5% (1989)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 5% (1989)

Unemployment rate: 3% (1989)

Budget: revenues $33.6 billion; expenditures $33.6 billion, including
capital expenditures of NA (1990)

Exports: $62.3 billion (f.o.b., 1989); commodities--textiles,
clothing, electronic and electrical equipment, footwear, machinery, steel,
automobiles, ships, fish; partners--US 33%, Japan 21%

Imports: $61.3 billion (c.i.f., 1989);
commodities--machinery, electronics and electronic equipment, oil,
steel, transport equipment, textiles, organic chemicals, grains;
partners--Japan 28%, US 25% (1990)

External debt: $30.5 billion (September 1989)

Industrial production: growth rate 3.5% (1989)

Electricity: 20,500,000 kW capacity; 80,000 million kWh produced,
1,850 kWh per capita (1989)

Industries: textiles, clothing, footwear, food processing, chemicals,
steel, electronics, automobile production, ship building

Agriculture: accounts for 11% of GNP and employs 21% of work force
(including fishing and forestry); principal crops--rice, root crops, barley,
vegetables, fruit; livestock and livestock products--cattle, hogs, chickens,
milk, eggs; self-sufficient in food, except for wheat; fish catch of 2.9
million metric tons, seventh-largest in world

Aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-85), $3.9 billion

Currency: South Korean won (plural--won);
1 South Korean won (W) = 100 chon (theoretical)

Exchange rates: South Korean won (W) per US$1--683.43 (January 1990),
671.46 (1989), 731.47 (1988), 822.57 (1987), 881.45 (1986), 870.02 (1985)

Fiscal year: calendar year

- Communications
Railroads: 3,106 km operating in 1983; 3,059 km 1.435-meter standard
gauge, 47 km 0.610-meter narrow gauge, 712 km double track, 418 km
electrified; government owned

Highways: 62,936 km total (1982); 13,476 km national highway, 49,460 km
provincial and local roads

Inland waterways: 1,609 km; use restricted to small native craft

Pipelines: 294 km refined products

Ports: Pusan, Inchon, Kunsan, Mokpo, Ulsan

Merchant marine: 423 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 7,006,481
GRT/11,658,104