South Korea's import prices declined by the most in more than three years in December on a fall in global oil prices and a strong local currency, the central bank said Thursday.

In local currency terms, the country's import prices dropped 8.8 percent last month from a year earlier, compared with a 7.6 percent on-year fall in November, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The figure declined for all of the second half of last year, except in August, as the Korean won's appreciation against the U.S. dollar and falling oil prices led import prices to move downward, the BOK said.

The December fall marked the largest on-year decline since a 15.3 percent on-year plunge in October 2009, it added.

Last month, oil prices dipped 6.2 percent from a year earlier.

The local currency strengthened around 6 percent to the greenback last month, compared with a year ago.

Compared with a month earlier, the import prices shed 1.1 percent in December, from a 2.8 percent on-month decline the previous month, the BOK said.

Meanwhile, the country's export prices in Korean won fell 6.2 percent last month from a year earlier, continuing the downward trend for a fourth consecutive month.

South Korea's exports, which account for about 50 percent of the local economy, shrank 5.5 percent to $45.1 billion in December from a month earlier. (Yonhap News)