Thanks to strong semiconductor exports... the country's exports of ICT products has been growing for 26 consecutive months through December last year.
Kim Hyesung has the details.
Korea's exports of information and communication technology products hit an all-time high in 2018.
The trade ministry says a total of 220-point-four billion U.S. dollars worth of ICT products were shipped overseas, up more than 11 percent on-year.
Semiconductors were the top item. Exports soared to 128 billion dollars last year, up more than 28 percent from 2017.
Computers and related devices were up 17 percent, recording over 11 billion dollars of exports.
2018 marked the first time Korea's semiconductors became the first single goods category to top 100 billion dollars in exports... but data shows a slowdown in semiconductor export growth.
In the first half of 2018, chip exports grew by 42 percent on-year, while in the second half they only grew by about 18 percent.
In December, chip exports actually dropped 10 percent on-year to 16 billion dollars on falling demand and lower prices.
In 2018 as a whole, ICT exports to China, South Korea's number one trading partner, jumped 14 percent to 119 billion dollars.
Exports to Vietnam gained 8 percent to 28 billion dollars, and ICT shipments to the United States climbed 13 percent to around 21 billion dollars.
Imports reached a little over 107 billion dollars last year, giving Korea an information and technology trade surplus of 113-point-three billion dollars, also the highest on record so far.
Kim Hyesung, Arirang News.