SOUTH KOREA PERSPECTIVE

Seoul freezes its rate and waits. The Bank of Korea maintains its base rate unchanged for the second consecutive time, facing dual risk from inflation fueled by Middle East war and slowing growth. Yonhap pushes out successive updates of the same decision, signaling the importance Korean press places on each BOK move. South Korea, an export economy entirely dependent on imported oil, faces the same dilemma as Japan: raising rates kills growth, maintaining them lets inflation run. The coverage is technical, dense, focused on indicators — not a word about war victims, no human images. It's the perspective of a technocracy managing crisis through numbers.