South Korea is seeing a strong recovery as its GDP hit a robust annual growth rate of 5.9% in the second quarter, missing the market projection of 6% by inches, the Bank of Korea announced on July 27.

The recovery could open up the possibility of a rate hike as soon as August, as central bank officials have indicated a preference for tightening.

However, second-quarter GDP was 0.7% when compared with three months earlier, a slowdown from the previous quarterly growth of 1.7%. The quarterly