(KPL/Yonhap) Last week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) gathering in Republic of Korea served as an opportunity to further boost the country's exports of various agro-livestock products, such as beef and pork, in line with the growing popularity of Korean cuisine across the globe, the agriculture minister said Wednesday.

Over the weekend, Seoul completed its sanitary negotiations to export beef and pork from cattle and pigs raised in the southern Jeju Island to Singapore.

Singapore has become Korea's sixth official overseas market for "hanwoo," which refers to premium Korean beef.

Korea also concluded its 17 year-long quarantine negotiations with China to export persimmons to the country during a summit between President Lee Jae Myung and Chinese leader Xi Jinping held Saturday on the sidelines of the APEC leaders' summit in the southeastern city of Gyeongju.

"The latest agreements mark an important milestone for expanding the global reach of Korean food products," Agriculture Minister Song Mi-ryung said in a regular press conference held at the government complex in the administrative city of Sejong.

"Through continued quarantine negotiations, we will actively support Korean agricultural and livestock products in entering new global markets," she added.

Song said the government will start issuing a document on the export status and related regulations of different countries to help the country devise a strategy for expanding its agricultural exports.

Earlier this year, the Seoul government announced an annual target of US$14 billion in food exports for 2025.

In the first nine months of this year, the country's exports of food products hit an all-time high of $8.5 billion, jumping 8.9 percent from a year earlier.

Meanwhile, regarding the recent tariff deal with the United States, the minister reaffirmed the deal does not include further opening of Korea's agro-livestock market.

KPL