The South Korean art market surpassed 1 trillion won ($782 million) in total sales for the first time in 2022 on strong sales of artworks through galleries and art fairs, the Culture Ministry said.

The trade volume of artworks increased 37.2 percent from 756.3 billion won in 2021 to 1.037 trillion won in 2022 despite the global economic woes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said.

By sector, art fairs experienced the largest growth of 59.8 percent from 188.9 billion won in 2021 to in 2022, according to the ministry.

The growth is seen to be closely related to the 13.1 percent increase in the total number of visitors to art fairs from 774,000 in 2021 to 875,000 last year. The sales figure for 2022 did not include revenue from the inaugural Frieze Seoul. (Yonhap)