The head of a major trade association in Korea said Thursday that his organization will make a concerted effort to help the country's trade volume rebound to the $1 trillion level by expanding its support for sagging exports. 

Korea's trade had surpassed $1 trillion for four straight years until 2014, but last year it tumbled below the mark as exports dwindled due to the global economic slowdown.

In January, the country's exports nosedived 18.8 percent from a year earlier on sluggish overseas demand, with things looking dim this month.  

"(We) will intensify our efforts to provide support for trading companies this year in order to help the economy make a fresh leap forward this year," Kim In-ho, chairman of the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), said in a general meeting in southern Seoul.

 Kim added that the organization will expand its support for its member companies to better utilize the benefits from free trade with China and help them advance into high value-added service sectors in overseas markets by tapping into the growing popularity of Korean culture.

KITA earlier unveiled its major business objectives for this year, which included making an "all-out" effort for small and medium-sized enterprises to expand exports, and setting up a total service system for them and helping nurture and provide skilled workers to companies in need.

The association is a major business lobby group that represents the interests of trading companies. Its main business is to reflect demand from exporters and carry out projects that could help their trading activities. (Yonhap)