Student: Bettina SteimetzInternational Marketing – 3rd task Group: Tuesday,

12:00

The economic affiliation, the main import and export

characteristics and the overall economic trends of South Korea
South Korea had one of the world's fastest growing economies from the early 1960s to the late
1990s but South Korea is still one of the fastest growing developed countries in the 2000s. Its
population is 48,754,657 (July 2011 est.), with the capital of Seoul where 9.778 million
people live. South Korea’s trade is based on balanced multilateral expansion, liberalization
and efficient structural changes that contribute to its growing share of exports. South Korea
exports contribute 39.4% to the country’s GDP which was estimated to $1.467 trillion in
2010 and with this the country is the 15th in the world by the GDP rate.
The main products what they are exporting are semiconductors, motor vehicles, computers,
wireless telecom equipments, steel, ships (50.6% share of the global shipbuilding market as
of 2008,) and petrochemicals. Notable Korean shipbuilders are Hyundai Heavy Industries,
Samsung Heavy Industries, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, and STX Offshore
& Shipbuilding, the world's four largest shipbuilding companies. South Korea today has
developed into one of world's largest automobile producers. Hyundai and Kia are Korea's
largest automakers. Construction has been an important South Korean export industry since
the early 1960s and remains a critical source of foreign currency and "invisible" export
earnings. Korea's largest construction companies include Samsung C&T Corporation, who
had built noteworthy constructs such as Petronas Towers, Taipei 101, and Burj Khalifa.
Situated in the most heavily militarized region of the world, South Korea is an important
manufacturer of armaments, both for domestic use and for export.
The main export partners are China (21.5%), US (10.9%), Japan (6.6%) and Hong Kong
(4.6%) (data from 2008).
The most important import partners are China (17.7%), Japan (14%), US (8.9%), Saudi
Arabia (7.8%), UAE (4.4%) and Australia (4.1%) (data from 2008).
South Korea has a high dependence on the import of capital goods, raw materials and
industrial supplies (machinery, electronics and electronic equipment, oil, steel, transport
equipment, organic chemicals, plastics, rice, food). Having almost no natural resources and
always suffering from overpopulation in its small territory, which deterred continued
population growth and the formation of a large internal consumer market, South Korea
adapted an export-oriented economic strategy to fuel its economy, and in 2010, South Korea
was the sixth largest exporter and tenth largest importer in the world.
The financial crisis in South Korea: South Korea was one of the few developed countries
that was able to avoid a recession during the global financial crisis, and its economic growth
rate reached 6.1% in 2010.

Tourism: In 2007, South Korea had 6.4 million visitors making it the 36th most visited
country in the world. Recently, the number of tourists from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and
Southeast Asia has grown dramatically due to the increased popularity of the Korean wave.

The future: In March 2011, Citigroup predicted that South Korea will be the 10th richest
country in the world measured by GDP per capita in 2020, rising to 5th place by 2030 and 4th
place between 2040 and 2050.

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Student: Bettina SteimetzInternational Marketing – 3rd task Group: Tuesday,
12:00

Reference list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_South_Korea [Accessed: 09/03/2010]

http://www.economywatch.com/world_economy/south-korea/export-import.html [Accessed:
09/03/2010]

http://www.bk.mufg.jp/report/ecorev2010e/ecoreview_e201002.pdf [Accessed: 09/03/2010]

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ks.html [Accessed:
09/03/2010]