China has raced past Japan to become the nation's second biggest overseas market, only next to the United States. That's according to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy.
For the first seven months of this year, South Korea's exports to China rose four point seven percent from a year ago to ten point seven billion U.S. dollars while exports to Japan shrank more than nine percent to ten point four billion dollars.
China and Japan each accounted for eleven point six percent of total exports in the first half of this year, but China actually nudged past Japan by three hundred million dollars during the same period.
Officials say that given indirect exports via Hong Kong, exports to China far outstripped those to Japan already, but this is officially the first time China has seized the number two ranking.
In 19-90, China was not even among the ten largest importers for Korea. In 19-92, when the two countries normalized diplomatic relations, China imported two point seven billion dollars worth of goods from South Korea.
In 1992, the nation's exports to Japan stood at eleven point six billion dollars .... four times its exports to China.
Exports to China have increased every year since 1995, except for 19-98 at the height of the Asian financial crisis.