South Korea's trade appeared to be little disturbed Wednesday by North Korea's surprise attack on a South Korean island this week as the country is moving to set new record volumes of exports and imports, the government said.
The assessment came one day after the North bombarded a populated island near the inter-Korean western sea border, so far leaving two South Korean marines killed and dozens wounded along with scores of houses and buildings
destroyed.
The provocation "has yet to take any effect on trade," the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said. "When considering similar cases in the past, the
government believes the effect of this incident will only be temporary unless the situation worsens."
The ministry, however, noted the incident might have negative effects on the country's exports in the future as foreign buyers may demand a change of conditions for their purchases to ensure safe and steady supply of goods.
In the first 10 months of the year, South Korea exported US$381.9 billion worth of goods, up 30.1 percent from the same period in 2009 with the figure for the entire year expected to climb to a new record high of some $458 billion.
The country's imports also increased 32.9 percent on-year to $346.4 billion in the January-October period. The amount is expected to reach $426 billion, also setting a new record, at the end of the year.