Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho has vowed stronger government-wide efforts to restore vitality of exports, calling them the backbone of the South Korean economy.
 
He made the remark during a meeting of overseas economy-related ministers at the Seoul Government Complex on Thursday.
 
He said that along with active response measures to economic conditions, the government will seek to strengthen the fundamentals of the economy through bold corporate restructuring, fostering of new growth sectors and speedy industrial reform.
 
Regarding data showing on-year improvement of exports during the first ten days of this month, the minister said it's too early to make an assessment. He said that end-of-the-month results will show whether exports have rebounded. 
 
The Korea Customs Service said Wednesday that shipments were up over eleven percent year-on-year in the first ten days of May, marking the first on-year increase this year for the first ten day period of the month.