Korea posted the first deficit ever for its diesel car trade last year as imports expanded sharply despite the fake emission scandal involving some popular models of Volkswagen, industry data showed Monday.

According to the data by the Korean Automobile Importers and Distributors Association, the country's trade deficit for diesel passenger cars came to $1.42 billion last year, a turnaround from a surplus of about $870 million a year earlier. 

This marked the first ever deficit that the country has posted in the area.

The country's imports of diesel vehicles spiked 28 percent on-year to an all-time high of $6.29 billion last year, while exports fell 15.7 percent over the same period to $4.88 billion, the data showed.

The expanded imports came despite the global emission scandal involving German carmaker Volkswagen.

In September, Volkswagen was found to have manipulated the emission results of some of its popular diesel models to meet tough regulations in the U.S., which was followed by massive recalls in major markets.

Despite the scandal, it did not hurt diesel car sales here much as Volkswagen and other foreign car brands ramped up promotion to prop up a possible fall in demand, market watchers said.

Of the total auto imports last year that reached 243,900 units, diesel vehicles accounted for 68.9 percent, the data showed. (Yonhap)