The South Korean economy has been bobbing along on choppy waters in recent years,... due to sluggish investment, high unemployment and weak exports.
And now, we're seeing these problems affecting the country's global GDP ranking.
Our Ko Roon-hee tells us more.

The South Korean economy ranked as the 12th largest in the world in 2017,… one notch down from a year earlier.
According to World Bank data released on Thursday, South Korea's gross domestic product last year was more than one-point-five-three trillion U.S. dollars.
GDP is the sum of the total value of all final goods and services produced in a certain period of time.

South Korea's GDP ranking has fluctuated over the years.
It reached 11th in 2006, before slumping to 15th in 2008.
From 2009 to 2013…it held steady at 14th.
Although it rebounded to 11th in 2016, the ranking slipped back down to 12th in 2017.

Despite the ranking edging down last year, an expert says the focus should be elsewhere, especially considering the problems facing the South Korean economy.

"Our GDP ranking slipped one spot in 2017. However, the bigger issue is the phenomenon that South Korea's overall economic growth is slowing down. This means our growth potential is gradually declining."

The United States topped the GDP list in 2017 at more than 19-point-three-nine trillion dollars.
China was second at more than 12-point-two-three trillion dollars.
Japan was third and Germany fourth.

Meanwhile, South Korea's gross national income last year jumped 14 spots from a year earlier,…coming in at almost 28-thousand-400 dollars.
The country's GNI based on purchasing power parity also shot up 17 spots.
A Bank of Korea official attributed the spike to the strength of the local currency.
The official said the stronger Korean won probably affected the final numbers as they are calculated in U.S. dollars.
Ko Roon-hee, Arirang News.