The recession handwringing that has become a big part of life in the US and Europe unfortunately skips over a useful proxy for global growth. South Korea's economy doesn't get the respect it deserves, which is a pity because the news has been good recently: Crucial exports are recovering, the labor market is resilient, and the expansion is still very much alive.

So is inflation. The pace of growth in consumer prices hasn't abated as much as economists predicted. Interest-rate cuts, once penciled in by markets for late this year, haven't materialized and are unlikely to do so before the second half of 2024. The central bank, which embarked on an aggressive series of hikes from 2021, has paused and emphasized a higher-for-longer stance. Sound familiar? That's not Fed Chair Jerome Powell talking, but Bank of Korea Governor Rhee Chang-yong.