The prolonged trade dispute between the U.S. and China is hurting a lot of economies and their exports.
And among the hardest-hit,... was South Korea.
Our Ko Roon-hee reports.
With trade tensions threatening to boil over between the world's two economic superpowers, a new report shows South Korea's exports decreased the most among the world's major economies in the first three months of 2019.

According to the OECD's data on international merchandise trade, South Korea's exports plunged 7-point-1 percent during the January to March period...compared to the previous quarter.
This was the biggest decrease among all G20 countries,... an even sharper fall than the drops witnessed in Brazil and Russia.

South Korea relies heavily on exports to the U.S. and China...with many local companies shipping intermediary goods to them.
From January to May 25th, South Korea's outbound shipments to China accounted for more than 20-percent of the country's total exports.
The figure for the U.S. was more than 12-percent... so the two countries accounted for roughly a third of South Korea's total exports during the period.

And poor export figures are especially dangerous for such an export-reliant economy like South Korea.
In 2018, South Korea's exports accounted for a whopping 44-percent of the country's total GDP.

The outlook in the near future doesn't look particularly bright either.
Government data show the nation's exports tumbled 9-point-4 percent on-year in May.
Other than the impact of the U.S.-China trade dispute, sluggish semiconductor exports contributed to the slump.
South Korea's outbound shipments of chips plummeted more than 30-percent...mainly due to falling global chip prices and ongoing inventory adjustments at data centers around the world.

In a bid to turn things around, the South Korean government aims to devise measures related to the diversification in export products and destinations in the coming months.
Ko Roon-hee, Arirang News.