Has the Korean Economy Bottomed out?

Indicators suggest that the Korean economy has bottomed out and is slowly recovering, especially in the manufacturing industry, the state-run Korea Development Institute said Sunday.

"Exports declined sharply due to the global economic slowdown, but signs have emerged suggesting the recession has begun to ease," the KDI said.

It stressed that semiconductor exports and shipments to China declined at a slower pace. Semiconductor exports declined 41 percent on-year in April but only 36.2 percent in May, while shipments to China fell 26.5 percent in April but only another 20.8 percent in May.

Hiring increased in the service and hospitality sectors, resulting in an increase in employment by 354,000 or 1.3 percent from a year ago.

In a seminar last Thursday, Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho also said, "I believe the economy will gradually get better in the second half. The end of the tunnel seems not that far away."