South Korea's deficit in the trade of intellectual property rights narrowed in the first six months of this year from a year earlier on reduced shortfalls from patent use contracts, the central bank said Tuesday.

South Korea posted a trade deficit of $600 million in intellectual property rights for the January-June period, down from a deficit of $950 million a year earlier, data released by the Bank of Korea showed.

South Korea exported $5.53 billion and imported $6.13 billion in intellectual property rights.

The decline in the trade deficit in intellectual property rights was mainly attributed to a reduced deficit from patent use arrangements, which narrowed to $100 million from $930 million, the data said.

The BOK said big South Korean electronics makers increased their exports of patent use contracts to their overseas subsidiaries while cutting imports of patent use arrangements from the United States and other advanced countries.

By industry, the manufacturing sector posted a deficit of $250 million in intellectual property rights, down from a deficit of $920 million a year earlier, while the services sector posted a deficit of $360 million in intellectual property, up from $60 million during the same period.

By country, South Korea posted the largest amount of trade deficit in intellectual property rights of $1.64 billion with the United States in the first half of this year, down from a deficit of $1.85 billion a year earlier.

The country's largest surplus of $1.14 billion in the intellectual property sector was achieved through trade with Vietnam. The surplus was up from $870 million a year earlier. (Yonhap)