Two of the main indicators used to gauge the strength of a country's economy... investment in production and facilities... fell in December for Korea.
Our Ko Roon-hee tells us why.
Another raft of economic data that paints a grim picture for the South Korean economy.

According to Statistics Korea on Thursday, the country's overall industrial output and facilities investment both fell for the second consecutive month in December.

Production edged down by zero-point-six percent compared to the previous month,... mainly due to a fall in semiconductor production.
Overall chip production slumped by four-and-a-half percent...due to lower demand for DRAM chips from data centers.
These centers refer to centralized locations where computing and networking equipment is concentrated for processing large amounts of data.
Analysts say the centers are delaying purchases,... waiting for lower price points.

Another ominous sign emerged from the auto industry.
Production in South Korea's auto sector plunged by five-point-nine percent...due to lower demand for automobile parts.
This comes after a decrease in exports.
Separate data from Korea Customs Service show the export amount of passenger cars last year dropped by one-point-eight percent.

Facilities investment also fell last month, especially in machineries.
This comes after companies invested less in display manufacturing.

However, consumption rebounded over the same period.
Retail sales went up by zero-point-eight percent...due to a rise in sales of durable goods.

For the whole of 2018, industrial production and retail sales increased by one percent and four-point-two percent respectively.
Facilities investment dropped by four-point-two percent...marking the sharpest decline since 2009 in the aftermath of global financial crisis.
Ko Roon-hee, Arirang News.