Anchor: South Korea plans to concentrate its trade budget and marketing efforts in the first half of the year in order to step up a recovery in exports. The Trade Ministry has allocated 67 percent of its trade missions for this year in the first half and vowed to diversify the nation's export markets.
Our Kim In-kyung has more.
 
Report: The Trade Ministry has unveiled measures to spur South Korea's export growth.
 
In a meeting aimed at promoting trade and investment on Monday, the ministry said it will concentrate its budget in the first half of this year to rekindle exports, which had fallen for two straight years in 2015 and 2016.
 
At the meeting, presided over by Acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn, the Trade Ministry said it plans to spend more than 60 percent of its marketing budget for exports by June. The ministry's export marketing budget for this year is 372-point-nine billion won, up around 30 percent from last year.
 
As part of the efforts, the ministry plans to dispatch a bulk of its trade missions in the first half of the year. Of the 315 trade missions planned for this year, it will dispatch 210 in the first half. In addition, of the 297 export consultation meetings planned for this year, it will hold 134 by June.
 
The ministry also said it will seek to diversify South Korea's export markets in order to lower its dependence on a handful of nations such as the U.S. and China. India, the Middle East and Southeast Asia are some of the markets that South Korea plans to focus on.
 
It was the first time in 58 years that annual exports fell for two years in a row. Overseas shipments, however, have been showing signs of a recovery. Exports rose for three consecutive months from November last year to January. The Trade Ministry estimated in January that exports would grow two-point-nine percent this year.
Kim In-kyung, KBS World Radio News.