Major surgery on the cards in South Korea

摘要

South korea's economy, once the standard bearer of Asia's ambitions to move from emerging to fully developed nation status, is in dire straits. Well, perhaps not quite, given that the country's GDP is still growing. But in relation to the past 20-odd years, the sub-4% growth South Korea has registered over the past four years - it came in at a paltry plus 0.3% in the second quarter on a year-on-year basis -is calamitous. President Park Geun Hye, anxious to leave a strong legacy as she faces the final half of her five-year term, has described South Korea's economy as in need of "major surgery". The lady's right, but I wonder if that strictly curtailed presidential term might partly be to blame.