As Korea has lack of natural resources, all we have to do is increase export oriented policy, which made South Korea within  Top 10 trade major countries.

Korea’s external trade has achieved remarkable growth. The trade volume more than tripled from $332.7 billion in 2000 to $1.0752 trillion in 2013, elevating the country to the ranks of global trade powerhouses. Notably, except for 2008 during the global financial crisis, it has recorded continuous trade surpluses, making an absolute contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth. As a result, South Korea’s global trade ranking took a massive leap from 13th in 2000 to 8th as of 2024, solidifying its status in the international community.

Behind this quantitative growth lies the acquisition of overwhelming international competitiveness in a select few major export items.

Strengthened Position of Traditional Major Industries: Semiconductors, passenger cars, and ships have firmly established themselves as South Korea’s representative export items, consistently accounting for about one-fourth (approx. 25%) of total exports. These items lead the market based on preemptive, large-scale facility investments and super-gap technological prowess (e.g., the shipbuilding industry’s sweep of eco-friendly LNG ship orders, the auto industry’s accelerated transition to electric vehicles [EVs], etc.).

Leap of New Growth Engines: Recently, the export share of new growth engine products has significantly increased, attempting to diversify external competitiveness. This includes the ICT industry group, such as mobile phones, wireless communication devices. 

Key words: external trade, export. competitiveness, infrastructure, non-tariff barriers.