South Korea may realize intellectual property trade deficit with Japan for the first time
Statistics released by the Bank of Korea (Central Bank) on the 22nd showed that South Korea’s intellectual property trade deficit with Japan shrank to US$28.5 million last year, the lowest deficit since relevant statistics began in 2010. In 2010, South Korea's intellectual property trade deficit with Japan was as high as US$811 million. However, the deficit has gradually narrowed over the past 13 years, and last year it fell sharply to one-28th of the 2010 level.
Analysis points out that the reduction of South Korea's intellectual property trade deficit with Japan is mainly due to the increasing popularity of Korean culture in Japan and the increase in Korean artists' performances overseas, especially in Japan, with the end of the COVID-19 epidemic last year.
Moon Hye-jung, head of the central bank's balance of payments group,
said that the reason why South Korea's intellectual property trade
deficit with Japan narrowed last year was due to the growth in exports
in the entertainment field, especially the outstanding performance of
music and video copyright exports.
Last year, South Korea achieved a surplus of US$536.6 million in cultural and artistic copyright trade with Japan, which was nearly four times higher than the US$143 million in 2014. If this growth momentum can be sustained during the year, South Korea is expected to achieve a record surplus in intellectual property trade with Japan for the first time this year.
According to the central bank, South Korea achieved a surplus of US$180
million in overall intellectual property trade last year, the highest
since relevant statistics were collected in 2010.
In 2021, South Korea's annual intellectual property trade balance
recorded a surplus for the first time, reaching US$160
million. However, since turning into a loss (-$1.16 billion) in 2022, South
Korea once again achieved its second and largest profit in history
last year.
By country, the intellectual property trade surplus with countries such
as China (US$2.52 billion) and Vietnam (US$1.36 billion) is significant,
while the UK (-US$3.23 billion) and the United States (-US$2.09 billion)
continue to have deficits. expand.