Korea's exports, trade surplus in tech products hit record highs in May

South Korea's exports of tech products and its IT-related trade surplus rose to record highs in May as global demand for Korea's smartphones and semiconductors remained firm, government data showed Sunday.  Korea's exports in tech products amounted to a record US$15.15 billion last month, up 17.2 percent from a year earlier, according to data by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning and the trade ministry. The country's trade surplus in the tech sector also hit an all-time high of $8.27 billion in May, up 23.6 percent from the previous year, the data showed. In the January-May period, the accumulative exports and trade surplus in those products also reached record highs of $67.97 billion and $35.07 billion, respectively. The May data came as South Korea has logged brisk sales of smart devices and key semiconductors weathering the global economic downturn. Seoul's exports of IT products accounted for about 30 percent out of its total overseas shipments, the data showed. But the value of Korea's IT-related trade surplus stood far higher than the country's total surplus of $14.15 billion in the first five months of the year, indicating that the sharp surplus in the tech industry overshadowed deficits in other sectors.