Recently, South Korea's economy has suffered a "big **" What is surprising is that the epicenter of this ** is in the ** relationship between China and South Korea. According to the news released by the relevant departments of South Korea, in the first 11 months of this year, South Korea's exports to China reached 114 billion US dollars, while imports from China reached 132 billion US dollars, and there was a deficit of 18 billion US dollars. This also means that South Korea will have a staggering annual deficit with China this year.
South Korea** expressed extreme disappointment at this and bluntly said: "South Korea has nothing to sell to China anymore." For a long time, China has been South Korea's largest surplus country, but since 2018, South Korea's ** to China has gradually declined, but there has been a deficit phenomenon, and this year it was squeezed out of the top 20 for the first time, realizing the "two-level reversal" of the ** pattern.
This phenomenon has aroused heated discussions in South Korea, and the South Korean Association said that the transformation of China's structure and the improvement of China's product self-sufficiency are the main reasons for South Korea's deficit. Many intermediate materials that previously relied on imports have been produced by Chinese companies themselves, which has led to a significant drop in South Korea's demand for imports. However, South Korea is vigorously developing the battery market, which has led to a large dependence on Chinese products, making it difficult to avoid a deficit.
In addition to the ** deficit, South Korea's semiconductor industry has also been hit by the U.S. sanctions policy against China. South Korea's semiconductor products have always been the main source of exports to China, but that has changed as pressure from the United States has increased.
Over the past decade, more than half of South Korea's chip exports have gone to China, but that proportion began to decline in 2018. At the same time, in the first half of this year, the sales of South Korea's two major chip companies, Samsung and SK hynix, also fell by 35%. In order to cope with this challenge, Yoon Suk-yeol** began to establish a "semiconductor alliance" with the Netherlands, hoping to resist the pressure of the "chip war" between China and the United States. However, compared to China's enormous cooperation, this "roundabout" strategy does not necessarily achieve practical results. Losing the huge market of China, South Korea's semiconductor companies will inevitably suffer a major blow.
In recent years, Yoon Suk-yeol has been pursuing a policy of "**" and has followed the steps of the United States in imposing various sanctions on China. However, this policy not only affected the enthusiasm of China and South Korea for cooperation, but also made South Korea the first victim in the Sino-US war.
Yoon Suk-yeol's "tendencies" are not only reflected in the economic field, but also in diplomatic exchanges. He was invited by Biden to sing on stage during his visit to the United States, a move that was criticized and ridiculed by the people in South Korea. It is widely believed that Yoon Suk-yeol**'s approach of giving up his dignity in order to pander to the United States is unacceptable.
In the Sino-US war, China also carried out a series of countermeasures, which dealt a huge blow to South Korea. Measures such as China's graphite restrictions and tighter urea exports to South Korea have left South Korea's battery and fertilizer industries facing raw material shortages. South Korean companies have been complaining about it. As South Korea continues to follow the United States, it will inevitably become more and more difficult.
In short, the South Korean economy has suffered serious losses in recent years under the double blow of the Sino-US war and Yoon Suk-yeol's "** policy". **The emergence of deficits and the woes of the semiconductor industry underscore South Korea's dilemma between China and the United States. Following the United States may bring short-term political benefits to South Korea, but in the economic field, South Korea faces greater challenges and dilemmas. In the future, South Korea needs to think carefully about its development strategy and strive to find more stable and diversified economic partners to get out of its current predicament.