S.Korea's economy returns to growth amid global virus struggle

Asia's fourth-largest economy grew a seasonally adjusted 1.9% in the September quarter from three months earlier, the Bank of Korea said on Tuesday, the fastest expansion since the first quarter of 2010. That reverses a 3.2% decline in the second quarter and beats the 1.7% expansion seen in a Reuters poll. From a year earlier, the economy shrank by 1.3% in the third quarter, after declining a revised 2.7% three months earlier.

South Korea's economy returned to growth in the third quarter, climbing out of the slump brought about by the coronavirus as its major trading partners began lifting pandemic restrictions. Asia's fourth-largest economy grew a seasonally adjusted 1.9% in the September quarter from three months earlier, the Bank of Korea said on Tuesday, the fastest expansion since the first quarter of 2010.

That reverses a 3.2% decline in the second quarter and beats the 1.7% expansion seen in a Reuters poll. From a year earlier, the economy shrank by 1.3% in the third quarter, after declining a revised 2.7% three months earlier.