Trade deficit with Japan increasing

The nation`s trade deficit with Japan is growing wider.

According to the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), from January to June, Korea imported US$15.88 billion worth of goods from Japan, up 51.2% from US$10.50 billion in the same period last year. During the same period, exports to Japan reached US$9.78 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of about US$6.1 billion.

The trade gap increased by 63.7% from the US$3.72 billion recorded in the previous year, and was equivalent to three-fourths of the annual trade deficit with Japan registered in 1999 (US$8.2 billion). The figure also far surpassed that of 1998 (US$4.6 billion).

By category, the Japanese imports that made the greatest gains were printing machines (up 350%), hot-rolled sheet (292%), metal cutting machines (215.9%) and transportation machinery (207.6%).

Noting that the nation`s trade deficit with Japan during the first half of this year was almost equal to its combined deficits with other countries such as Saudi Arabia (US$3.9 billion), Australia (US$1.8 billion) and Kuwait (US$1.1 billion), the KITA called for countermeasures to be prepared to tackle the discrepancy.