SEOUL -- South Korea entered a recession for the first time in 17 years as exports plunged due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Bank of Korea announced Thursday that the country's gross domestic product fell 3.3% in the April-to-June period from the previous quarter, when it contacted 1.3%. It is the first time that the economy shrank for two straight quarters since 2003, and the quarterly drop is the steepest since 1998.