Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon has rejected the view that the South Korean economy was in stagflation. 

Kim said that stagflation is a situation in which economic growth stagnates while inflation rises, and that the Korean economy is not currently in this phase.

He was responding to concern expressed by opposition Liberty Korea Party lawmaker Um Yong-soo during a plenary meeting of the National Assembly's Finance Committee held Monday.

The minister said it's typically viewed that South Korea faced economic stagflation during the first oil crisis in the mid-1970s and the second oil crisis in the '80s.

He said that in global terms, minus growth posted for two consecutive quarters constitutes stagnation.

He also said that inflation did rise above two percent this month but the annual average is around one-point-six to one-point-seven percent.