April 7, 2025
SEOUL – A key indicator of the state of South Korea’s economy, which had been recovering since the pandemic, declined throughout most of Yoon Suk Yeol’s presidency, government data showed Sunday.
The composite coincident index of the Korean economy in January stood at 98.4, the lowest since May 2022, when Yoon took office, according to Statistics Korea.
It decreased for three straight months from 98.9 in November 2024 — before Yoon’s declaration of martial law on Dec. 3 — and rebounded slightly to 98.5 in February.
The CCI indicates the current state of the economy, combining indexes ranging from mining and manufacturing, production and construction, to the service industry, imports and exports and the job market. It is one of the main economic indexes provided by the state-run agency.
During Yoon’s time in office, the CCI peaked at 101.6 in September 2022, four months after his term began, and remained on a downward trend thereafter. The country’s CCI had dropped to 96.3 in May 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, but had since gradually recovered.
Various factors contributed to the slump in the economic index under Yoon’s presidency. The industrial production index decreased for 11 straight months from April 2022 to February 2023, and the retail sales index dropped for eight months starting in May 2023.
The country was hit by a dramatic slump in the construction sector that pulled down the index measuring the value of completed construction for 11 consecutive months starting in April last year.
Yoon’s short-lived imposition of martial law led to political turmoil that further weakened the Korean won, which is a key factor in the country’s export-driven economy. The confusion also led to significantly decreased sales for food and beverage businesses, which usually boom around the end of the year.
The full extent of the economic repercussions of Yoon’s actions is still unclear, but reports suggest they are substantial. The Bank of Korea in January projected the country’s gross domestic product will grow by 1.6 or 1.7 percent this year, down from the BOK’s own 1.9 percent projection in November of last year.
Since the January forecast, the economy endured nearly three more months of political instability until the Constitutional Court on Friday confirmed Yoon’s impeachment on charges including insurrection and abuse of power, removing him from the presidency effective immediately.