Visitors look at displays at the Korea International Art Fair (KIAF) 2021 at COEX in Seoul in this Sept. 2, 2022 file photo. Yonhap

The 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 Wednesday.

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 302 billion won 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, a prestigious international contemporary art fair held simultaneously with the 21st edition of the annual Korea International Art Fair (KIAF) Seoul in September.

Sales through galleries are also presumed to have risen 59.8 percent from 314.2 billion won in 2021 to 502.2 billion won in 2022.

On the other hand, sales through auctions fell 30.9 percent to 233.5 billion won in 2022 from 338.4 billion won in 2021. Officials attributed the fall to the influence from the global economic recession in the second half of last year.

The ministry plans to supplement the report through its annual survey of the art market. (Yonhap)