South Korea's dependence on trade hit a record high in 2004 as soaring exports played a greater role in powering its economic growth, a trade body said Tuesday.

The nation's "trade dependency ratio," or the proportion of trade to gross domestic product (GDP), soared to 70.3 percent last year from 61.3 percent a year earlier, according to the Korea International Trade Association (KITA).

Comparable figures were 19.5 percent for the United States, 21. 9 percent for Japan, 70.0 percent for China and 112 percent for Taiwan.

A higher ratio augurs well for a country's economic growth while making it more vulnerable to volatile trade conditions.

South Korea's ratio has grown steadily in recent years. The ratio rose to 65 percent in 2000 from 50.3 percent in 1995.

Last year, South Korea's export dependence ratio came to 37.3 percent, with its import dependence reaching 33 percent.

South Korea's exports grew 31 percent from a year ago to 253.8 billion US dollars in 2004, while imports rose 25.5 percent to 224. 5 billion US dollars.

Source: Xinhua