It is hard to believe that a country sandwiched between two giants, China and Japan can have that much impact on the global economy. The population of South Korea is a little below 52, so it is not a small country but its economy, particular exports are being used as a yard stick for the health of global economy.
And if we look at South Korea’s exports we see that they reached all times high last October and the trend is down. The monthly data has so large “variation” month to month so it probably should not be interpenetrated month to month but rather on a trend. And if we smooth the data, we can see that the trend is down and the all time peak still holds.
source: tradingeconomics.com
Other sources/lins:
South Korea Exports YoY
Exports: Value Goods for the Republic of Korea
South Korea OEC