SOUTH KOREA

Industrial Output Off 6.4% for 1992: South Korea’s industrial production fell 6.4% last year, the largest annual decline since 1980, which fueled fears that the sagging economy is sliding into recession. The fall in industrial output, a decline of 0.5% over the previous month, was the worst performance since September, 1980, when production fell 7.5%, according to a report from the National Statistical Office. Economists and government officials said the industrial output figures illustrated the deepening economic malaise which is a symptom of the government’s austerity campaign imposed to curb inflation.