Readjustment to economic growth rate of Korea is likely to be unavoidable due to soaring oil prices, China's retrenchment policies and possible hike of U.S. key interest rates A dark cloud is hanging over the Korean economy due to unfavorable domestic and overseas factors--externally, such as soaring oil prices, concernsover slowdown in the domestic economic growth caused by the China shock and possibility of the interest rate hike in the U.S., and internally, such as failure in overall recovery of domestic consumption. The Seoul stock market plummeted to its lowest level this year on Monday, hit by a heavy sell-off by foreign investors who lost confidence in local market due to these unfavorable factors, and the exports which have so far struggled to propel the nation's economy forward also are facing with a tough time ahead. According to a report released May 11 by the Korea International Trade Association, Korea is foreseen to take the hardest blow amongAsian countries when oil prices go up due to its heavy reliance on energy imports. The import price of oil has exceeded U.S.$35 per barrel, hitting the highest record in three years and five months. In addition, as even words are getting around about early hikes of U.S. key interest rates, prompted by the variation in the world's economic situation and the better-than-expected U.S.'s employment gauge as well, the U.S. dollar's value is surging and so the Korean economy is heading for the worse. If the Chinese economy slows down due to the government announcement of its retrenchment policies, Korea, which is relying on China for exports, is expected to get hurt not a little particularly in the areas of steelmaking, shipbuilding and petrochemicals. It would be a complicated bad factor on the exports which have underpinned the Korean economy amid a severe slowdown in domestic demand, making it likely even harder to expect a pickup in the Korean economy in the near future. Thus, the domestic economic research institutes view that their already-announced estimation on the economic growth rate of Korea for this year would need inevitably a readjustment. hogeun@snmnews.com