Anchor: China has set its economic growth rate target at six-point-five percent for the next five years. Analysts say the new goal signifies an end to China's high growth phase, which had driven the global economy. The Bank of Korea also voiced concern that if China's growth rate falls to five percent it could hurt not only exports, but all sectors of the South Korean economy.
Our Kim In-kyung has more.
 
Report: Chinese President Xi Jinping has said the nation will grow at least six-point-five percent annually in the next five years to 2020.
 
The latest guidance issued on Tuesday appears to be an acknowledgement that China will not be able to expand at the seven-percent range.
 
In explaining the nation's 13th five-year plan, however, Xi said China will be able reach its goal of doubling its economy and per capita income by 2020 over 2010 levels if it grows more than six-point-five percent.
 
Beijing says a fall in the growth rate is a natural outcome of its bigger economy.
 
But outsiders say the new target signifies an end to the nation's rapid growth phase.
 
Concerns are growing that the speed of decrease in China's growth rate may accelerate if Beijing fails to transform the nation into a domestic consumption-driven economy from one led by exports and restructure an imbalance in its industrial sector.
 
Governments around the world are scrambling to respond to a contraction in the Chinese economy as the seven-percent growth pace appears precarious three years after the eight-percent growth rate tumbled.
 
Seoul is no exception as South Korean trade appears to be increasingly dependent on China. According to statistics from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Tuesday, exports to China accounted for 25-point-seven percent of South Korea's total exports between the first and third quarters of this year, up from 25 percent during the same period last year.
 
Members of the Bank of Korea's monetary policy committee also said in its meeting last month that not only exports, but all sectors of the South Korean economy, including its real economy and finance, would suffer if China's growth rate falls to about five percent.
 
Minutes of the central bank's policy meeting showed a committee member voicing concerns that South Korean exports to China will continue to be weak as the Chinese economy is entering a low-growth phase.
Kim In-kyung, KBS World Radio News.