The Korea Development Institute (KDI), a state-run think tank, has raised its economic growth forecast for South Korea this year to 3.2%, a 0.7 percentage point upward revision in just three months.

The growth forecast for next year was also raised by 0.5 percentage points, from the previous 1.7% to 2.2%.

This adjustment is based on the analysis that soaring semiconductor exports and facility investments, driven by the global artificial intelligence (AI) boom, are strongly leading the growth trend.

However, as growth remains concentrated in the semiconductor sector, which has a relatively low job creation effect, the forecast for this year's increase in the number of employed persons was sharply lowered to 110,000.