South Korea mulls daylight saving time in 2016

The South Korean government has considered introducing daylight saving time in 2016 aimed at offsetting a drop in exports, officials said on Sunday.

Daylight saving time is the practice of setting clocks one hour earlier during the summer months so that an extra hour of daylight is used for work, the Korea Herald reported.

"The government is contemplating a variety of measures to energise consumer spending, including the introduction of daylight saving time next year," a finance ministry official said.

Such consumption-boosting measures are needed because South Korea is not expected to see a great improvement in its exports in 2016 due to unfavorable external conditions, such as a slowdown in China, its largest trading partner, he said.

South Korea's exports fell 4.7 percent on-year to $44.43 billion in November, with the country's overseas shipments dropping every single month since the start of the year.

The move comes after a package of government steps to spur consumption following the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) proved to be effective.

South Korea had used the daylight saving time system from 1948-56 and 1987-88. The government had tried to introduce it in 1997, 2007 and 2009, to tide over economic difficulties, but it could not be implemented.