Data released by the Bank of Korea on Thursday revealed that South Korea's real gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 1% in 2025, propelled by robust exports, a figure that aligned with expectations but marked a deceleration from the previous year's 2% growth rate.

However, the South Korean economy unexpectedly contracted by 0.3% in the fourth quarter of last year compared to the previous quarter, representing the first contraction in six months and the weakest quarterly performance since the fourth quarter of 2022.

On a year-on-year basis, the GDP for the fourth quarter of last year increased by 1.5%, a slower pace of growth than the 1.8% expansion seen in the preceding quarter.