According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, construction companies signed overseas deals worth US$12.5 billion in the first quarter of this year, up 56 percent from the same period last year.
The quarterly figure accounts for 18 percent of this year's target of $70 billion.
The ministry said the country can attain this year's target as more overseas orders are placed in the second half of a year than the first half.
In the January-March period, orders from Asian countries took the lion's share of $7.33 billion, 58.4 percent of the total. It means that Asia replaced the Middle East as the world's largest market for South Korean construction companies.
The Middle East ranked second with $4.64 billion, a slight rise from $4.44 billion a year earlier.
By nation, Vietnam topped the list with $2.23 billion, followed by the United Arab Emirates ($1.8 billion), India ($1.15 billion), Iraq ($1.05 billion) and Saudi Arabia ($1.02 billion).
The ministry said that it plans to send support groups to Middle East nations such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE in the third quarter to help achieve the target for 2013.
The joint South Korea-Iraq Committee will hold a meeting to help South Korean builders broaden their inroad into the Iraqi reconstruction market, it said in a press release.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com