South Korea's exports of automobiles plunged more than 13% in the first six months of the year on the back of falling demand from new emerging markets, government data showed Sunday. 
South Korean carmakers shipped 1.33 million units of vehicles abroad over the January-June period, down 13.3% from a year earlier, according to the data by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. 
The government said the decrease followed the sluggish growth in new emerging markets, such as the Middle East, and the Central and South Americas. 
Overseas shipments to the Middle East region tumbled 40.3% on-year and to the Central and South Americas decreased 15.3% on-year, according to South Korea's (Yonhap) News Agency. 
Auto sales in the domestic market, however, jumped more than 9% in the first half of this year from a year earlier, the data showed, an increase that could be attributable to a temporary tax cut on cars. 
The combined sales of automakers operating in South Korea came to 934,864 units in the January-June period, up 9.1% from a year earlier, according to the data. 
Sales of foreign cars in South Korea, meanwhile, were weighed down by a slump of German automaker Volkswagen Group in the wake of a widening probe into its emissions scandal here, the data showed. 
The percentage of imports out of the total came to 14% in the January-June period, down 1.2% points from 15.2% a year earlier, the data showed.