South Korea posted a trade surplus with Japan in the auto parts sector for the first time last year.

According to the data provided by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (Kotra) and the Korea International Trade Association, South Korea recorded an auto parts trade surplus of US $23.75 million with Japan last year, a turnaround from the previous year's loss of US $84.33 million.

This represented the first surplus for Korea in the auto parts trade with its neighboring country.

Korea exported US $885.14 million worth of auto parts to Japan, up 10.5 percent from a year earlier, while its imports from Japan shrank 2.7 percent to US $861.38 million.

The surplus stemmed in part from Japanese carmakers' move to diversify their parts supply channels, which led to more imports from South Korea. Kotra stated that the enhanced brand image of Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. might have also contributed to better recognition of Korean auto part products as high quality among the Japanese carmakers.

Last year, South Korea exported a total of US $26.64 billion worth of auto parts, making them the third-largest export item for the country.