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SEOUL, June 14 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's exports of information and communications technology (ICT) products kept growing for seven months in a row, helping boost the double-digit growth in overall exports, a government report showed Wednesday.

Exports in the ICT sector surged 17.4 percent from a year earlier to 15.41 billion U.S. dollars in May, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

The ICT exports continued to rise for the seventh consecutive month, helping the exports in all industries post a double-digit expansion in recent months.

The May exports of ICT products were larger than any figure tallied in the same month. The ICT exports in May 2015 stood at 14.58 billion dollars, while the figure in the same month of 2016 came in at 13.13 billion dollars.

The ICT imports amounted to 7.99 billion dollars, sending the trade surplus in the sector to 7.42 billion dollars.

Semiconductor exports jumped 56 percent to 7.63 billion dollars, marking the record monthly high. Demand was strong for memory chips, especially those used for smartphones.

Display panel shipments kept growing for the seventh consecutive month thanks to higher prices of LCD panels.

By region, exports to China and Vietnam logged a double-digit increase, but those to the United States slumped 17.9 percent to 1.35 billion dollars.