South Korea Dec retail sales decline amid political upheaval

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's retail sales declined in December, reflecting weak consumer spending and the fallout of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law declaration during what is usually one of the busiest shopping periods, government data showed on Monday.

December retail sales declined 0.6% after staying flat in November, failing to grow for a fourth month.

A breakdown of Statistics Korea's report showed sales of cars and home appliances declined 4.1% from a month earlier, while entertainment spending also fell 0.6% as political upheaval put a damper on year-end festivities.

"There has been a downturn in sentiment due to the martial law declaration and momentum in exports growth is deteriorating," Park Sang-hyun, an economist at iM Securities, said.

South Korea's economy barely grew in the fourth quarter with 0.1% expansion as Yoon shocked the nation with his abrupt martial law declaration on Dec. 3, a move that sent the won to a 15-year low and led to the first-ever arrest of a sitting president in the country.

Factory output in December on the other hand beat market expectations and increased by the most in a year and a half thanks to a boost from chips and car production.

Industrial output rose 4.6% over the month on a seasonally adjusted basis, far outpacing a gain of 0.4% tipped in a Reuters poll of economists and the sharpest rise since August 2023.

(Reporting by Cynthia Kim, Youn Ah Moon; Editing by Ed Davies)

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