The Korea International Trade Association said Tuesday that is presumes that Korea’s trade deficit against Japan will reach US$11.4 billion in the first half, as exports to Japan recorded US$9.9 billion, while imports marked US$21.3 billion during the period. The deficit increased by US$2.5 billion, compared to the same period of the previous year ($8.8 billion). It accounted for 33 percent of the trade deficit in the first quarter last year. Therefore, it is expected that the trade deficit with Japan will record far more than US$20 billion, exceeding last year’s total trade deficit of US$19 billion.

By product, automobiles recorded the highest import increase rate of 149.7 percent, semiconductor chip manufacturing equipment marked 135.5 percent, petroleum chemical goods 46.5 percent, iron goods 43.4 percent, machines 22.5 percent and semiconductor chips 11 percent.

Thanks to an economic revival in Japan, Korea’s exports to the island country grew by 31.8 percent to US$9.9 billion in the first half, compared to the same period of last year. The trade deficit with the county is vastly expanding, however, propelled by a drastic increase in the import of semiconductor chip manufacturing equipments, instruments and electronic parts.

The trade deficit with Japan rapidly decreased to US$4.6 billion in 1998 when the financial crisis hit Korea. Since then, the deficit has been on the rise, recording US$8.2 billion in 1999, US$11.3 billion in 2000, US$10.1 billion in 2001 and US$14.7 billion in 2002. Since the 1960s, the accumulated trade deficit with Japan is US$210 billion.

(Choi Woo-seok, wschoi@chosun.com )