S. Korean exports see new record high for first three quarters

반도체가 이끈 수출...10월 ICT 수출 180억달러 역대 2위 Buoyed by the nation's booming semiconductor sector, South Korea's exports in the first three quarters of the year reached the highest ever level recorded in Q3. Another welcome development: more diversity in destinations. Here's Park Hee-jun with a breakdown of the numbers. Through September this year, South Korea posted its highest-ever level of exports for that nine-month period... thanks to strong demand for semiconductors. According to data from the Ministry of Trade,... exports in the first three quarters jumped 18-point-5-percent on-year to over 430 billion U.S. dollars. The previous high was in the first nine months of 2014, when exports hit nearly 425 billion. Exports were led mostly by information and communications technology products. Among the 13 ICT items, 10 saw an increase in shipments -- 8 of them with double-digit jumps. But among all products, semiconductors had the biggest share at 16 percent... on strong demand for DRAM and NAND memory chips. They were followed by general machinery, ships, petrochemical products and vehicles,...each with a share of around 7 or 8 percent. Exports were spread across various regions of the world. Shipments to member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations rose the fastest at more than 30 percent, followed by the European Union with 22.8 percent and China at 13.4 percent. Korea's reliance on China declined... alongside a clear increase in exports to Southeast Asia and India... helping diversifying the market. Park Hee-jun, Arirang News. Arirang News Facebook:   / arirangtvnews   ------------------------------------------------------------ [Subscribe Arirang Official YouTube] ARIRANG TV:    / arirang   ARIRANG RADIO:    / music180arirang   ARIRANG NEWS:    / arirangnews   ARIRANG K-POP:    / arirangworld   ARIRANG ISSUE:    / arirangtoday   ARIRANG CULTURE:    / arirangkorean   ------------------------------------------------------------ [Visit Arirang TV Official Pages] Facebook:   / arirangtv   Twitter:   / arirangworld   Instagram:   / arirangworld   Homepage: http://www.arirang.com ------------------------------------------------------------ [Arirang K-Pop] YouTube:    / arirangworld   Facebook:   / arirangkpop   Google+: http://plus.google.com/+arirangworld