SEOUL, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's export rose 7.7 percent for the first 10 days of December compared with the same period of last year, customs office data showed Wednesday.
Export, which takes up about half of the export-driven economy, reached 12.9 billion U.S. dollars in the December 1-10 period, up 7.7 percent from a year earlier, according to Korea Customs Service.
Shipments of automobile, auto parts and telecommunication devices such as smartphone gained in double figures in the cited period.
Semiconductor export tumbled 23.4 percent on the continued downturn in business cycle of the global chip industry, and display panel shipment plummeted 52.1 percent.
Exports to China and the United States, South Korea's top two trading partners, added 6.1 percent and 3.2 percent each, with shipment to the European Union (EU) jumping 21.8 percent.
Shipment to Japan declined 7.2 percent amid the ongoing trade spat between the two countries. The trade dispute was caused by Japan's tighter control in July over its export to South Korea of three materials, vital to make memory chips and display panels that are the mainstay of the South Korean export.
In August, Japan dropped South Korea off its whitelist of trusted trading partners that are given preferential export procedure. In response, Seoul removed Tokyo from its whitelist of trusted export partners.
Meanwhile, import grew 8 percent over the year to 14.3 billion dollars in the December 1-10 period, sending trade deficit to 1.4 billion dollars.
