South Korea has fallen into recession from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
GDP fall by a worse-than-expected 2.9% in year-on-year terms, the steepest decline since 1998.
Exports, which account for nearly 40% of the economy, fell by the highest volume since 1963.
Both Japan and Singapore have also gone into recession.
South Korea’s finance minister Hong Nam-ki remains optimistic that the economy will recover swiftly, but authorities in the trade-reliant nation have very little control over exports, ranging from computer memory chips to cars.