{"id":900,"date":"2026-06-08T13:23:57","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T13:23:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=900"},"modified":"2026-06-08T13:23:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T13:23:57","slug":"economy-continues-gradual-improvement-on-strong-chip-exports-kdi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=900","title":{"rendered":"Economy continues &#8216;gradual improvement&#8217; on strong chip exports: KDI"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='booster-block booster-read-block'>\n                <div class=\"twp-read-time\">\n                \t<i class=\"booster-icon twp-clock\"><\/i> <span>Read Time:<\/span>1 Minute, 44 Second                <\/div>\n\n            <\/div><p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-article-content=\"true\" data-testid=\"article-editor-content\">\n<div class=\"editor-img-box\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both; margin-bottom: 24px;margin-bottom: 30px;; width: 728px\"><picture><img src=\"https:\/\/newsimg.koreatimes.co.kr\/2026\/06\/08\/4d55ae53-5d8e-496d-b476-19de6cf4aa08.jpg?w=728\" style=\"height: auto; aspect-ratio: 1920 \/ 1280; width: 100%\" alt=\"Containers are waiting to be shipped at a port in Busan, June 1. Yonhap\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\" title=\"\"><\/picture>\n<div class=\"caption\">\n<p>Containers are waiting to be shipped at a port in Busan, June 1. Yonhap<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"editor-p\"> The Korean economy continued to improve gradually, supported by semiconductor-led strong exports, amid lingering uncertainties stemming from the Middle East, a state-run think tank said Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"editor-p\">&#8220;Despite the downside risks to the economy posed by the war in the Middle East, the Korean economy has continued to show gradual improvement, driven primarily by the semiconductor boom,&#8221; the Korea Development Institute (KDI) said in its monthly economic assessment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"editor-p\">The KDI used the phrase &#8220;gradual improvement&#8221; this month rather than last month&#8217;s assessment of &#8220;signs of recovery,&#8221; citing concerns that adverse effects from the Middle East war are spilling over into other sectors of the economy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"editor-p\">Korea&#8217;s exports surged 53 percent in May from a year earlier, extending their strong momentum amid the semiconductor supercycle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"editor-p\">Industrial output gained 2.4 percent in April from a year earlier.<\/p>\n<p class=\"editor-p\">Output in the mining and manufacturing sector, a key pillar of the economy, increased 1.5 percent on-year supported by a 13 percent rise in the semiconductor sector.<\/p>\n<p class=\"editor-p\">Retail sales increased 1.6 percent on-year in April, slowing from a 5 percent gain in the previous month, but the KDI said the recovery trend remained intact in April, noting that consumer sentiment rose to 106.1 in May from 99.2 a month earlier. The government&#8217;s cash handouts are also expected to support consumption.<\/p>\n<p class=\"editor-p\">&#8220;However, disruptions to crude oil shipments caused by the war in the Middle East persist, and downside risks to the economy remain,&#8221; it said. &#8220;While persistently high oil prices have fueled consumer inflation, production costs are also rising.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"editor-p\">Consumer prices rose 3.1 percent in May, accelerating from the previous month&#8217;s 2.6 percent, while core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, advanced 2.5 percent last month from 2.2 percent in April.<\/p>\n<p class=\"editor-p\">&#8220;High oil prices weighed heavily on consumer prices,&#8221; the KDI said. &#8220;Prices of items such as airfares, which are closely related to oil prices, pushed up core inflation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"ktViewTypeBody\" value=\"NORMAL\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a 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Yonhap The Korean economy continued to improve gradually, supported by semiconductor-led strong exports, amid lingering uncertainties stemming from the Middle East, a state-run think tank said Monday. &#8220;Despite the downside risks to the economy posed by the war in the Middle East,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,14],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-900","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-korea","8":"category-trending-news"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}