SEOUL (REUTERS) - South Korea's economic recovery beat expectations in the first quarter, extending the country's export-led recovery and as the government maintained support for ailing small businesses. Gross domestic product (GDP) grew a seasonally adjusted 1.6 per cent in the March quarter from three months earlier, the Bank of Korea said on Tuesday (April 27), faster than the median estimate of a 1.0 per cent growth in a Reuters poll and following a 1.2 per cent expansion in the December quarter. Asia's fourth-largest economy has continued to gain momentum after shrinking 1.0 per cent last year, its worst contraction since 1998, driven by smokestack industries such as chip and electronic manufacturing, mostly for exports. GDP expanded 1.8 per cent year-on-year in the January-March period after shrinking a revised 1.2 per cent three months earlier, also beating an expected expansion of 1.1 per cent. Growth was driven by exports and facility investment, which rose 1.9 per cent and 6.6 per cent quarter-on-quarter, respectively. Private consumption grew at a slower 1.1 per cent on-quarter, after shrinking 1.5 per cent in the previous three months. In early April, South Korea steppe...