South Korea's trading volume with 21 countries that participated in the 1950-53 Korean War soared in the past 60 years on its economic growth and increased establishment of diplomatic ties with them, a local business lobby said Thursday.

The trading volume with the 21 nations reached $314.6 billion in 2019, a dramatic hike from $200 million worth of trade with 12 participating nations in 1960, the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) said in a statement.

"South Korea needs to expand free trade agreements with the 21 participating countries for strengthened economic ties," an FKI official said in the statement.  

The 21 countries include the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Turkey, Sweden, Denmark, Thailand and the Philippines.

From 1960 to 2018, Korea's economy grew an average of 10.9 percent, higher than the world's average economic growth of 7.4 percent, the statement said.

South Korean investments in the 21 nations jumped to $25.85 billion from $124 million during the same period, and the countries' investments in South Korea also climbed to $12.4 billion from $85 million, it said.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Korean War. South and North Korea are still technically at war because the war ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. (Yonhap)