South Korea's surplus with China is twice as big as that with all other countries, which soared 58.6 percent to US$6.42 billion, said the association.

South Korea's total volume of exports to China in the eight months was US$24.4 billion, up 34.9 percent from the year-ago level, while imports stood at US$12.15 billion, up 58.6 percent.

The figures show that China has made its contribution to expanding South Korea's trade surplus since last year when the surplus hit US$16.5 billion, accounting for 66.7 percent of the country's total trade surplus.

During the January-August period, South Korea's exports to the mainland of China grew by 40.9 percent to US$11.9 billion, resulting in a surplus of US$3.69 billion, while imports totaled US$8.3 billion, up 56.6 percent.

Increased exports included computers, semiconductor chips, petrochemicals, oil products and electronic equipment, among which the exports of computers more than doubled.

South Korea's imports from the Chinese mainland also increased greatly, including grains and powdered grains, steel products, computers, clothes and coal.

Meanwhile, exports to Hong Kong came to US$6.95 billion against imports of US$900 million, with a US$6 billion surplus in South Korea's favor, while exports to Taiwan totaled US$5.45 billion and imports US$2.95 billion, with the trade surplus increasing 20.8 percent to US$2.5 billion.

(Xinhua 10/09/2000)