Overseas construction orders secured by South Korean builders have surpassed the $700 billion mark, 50 years after the first one, a ministry official said Thursday.
  

With the latest order that Samsung C&T Corp. clinched in Australia last Thursday, the total amount of overseas deals stands at $700.23 billion, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
  

The record was reached 50 years after the first overseas deal won by a local builder in 1965.
  

"Having retained $700 billion worth of deals in half a century is very meaningful for the nation, especially considering this year's slump in the industry amid a plunge in global oil prices," the official said.
  

By region, a bulk of the projects came from the Middle East, with the cumulative amount of orders from the area reaching $388.48 billion to take up 55.5 percent of the total, according to the data. Asia trailed with $212.46 billion, accounting for 30.3 percent. (Yonhap)