S. Korea's trade reliance declines amid global uncertainty: BOK

Seoul, Sep 24 (IANS) The South Korean economy became less dependent on trade in 2023 on weak exports and falling raw material prices amid global economic uncertainties, central bank data showed on Wednesday.

The country's overall industrial transactions edged down 0.1 percent from a year earlier to 6,802.7 trillion won (US$4.88 trillion) in 2023, reports Yonhap news agency.

Of the total, external transactions involving both exports and imports accounted for 29.6 percent, down 1.9 percentage points from a year earlier, according to the industrial input-output analysis report by the Bank of Korea (BOK).

"Exports decreased mainly in petrochemicals, computer and electronic, and optical devices, while imports fell due to lower prices of raw materials, such as crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG)," the BOK said.

Domestic output accounted for 85.1 percent of total industrial production in 2023, up 1.1 percentage points from a year earlier, while imports fell to 14.9 percent from 16 percent in 2022.

Exports totaled US$632.6 billion in 2023, down 7.4 percent from a year earlier, weighed down by sluggish semiconductor demand amid the global monetary tightening moves and the delayed recovery of China's economy.

Imports fell 12.1 percent to $642.7 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $9.97 billion.

Meanwhile, South Korea's exports of services related to the information and communication technology (ICT) sector rose 19 percent in the first half of 2025 from a year earlier, data showed on Wednesday, driven by game content.

Exports of ICT services amounted to US$6.37 billion in the January–June period, compared with $5.81 billion in the same period last year, according to the data from the Ministry of Science and ICT.

Imports came to $4.8 billion, up 12.3 percent from the previous year, resulting in a trade surplus of $1.57 billion.

By sector, game content accounted for 44 percent of the total, followed by information services with 15 percent and packaged software at 13 percent.

By destination, Asia accounted for 55 percent, followed by North America with 28 percent and Europe 15 percent, the data showed.

—IANS

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