Seoul's trade deficit with the US in the sector came in at $6.14 billion in 2016, the data showed.

The data came as the US formally notified South Korea last week that it wants to start the process of revising the free trade agreement between the two countries.

South Korea has said that the trade deal, which went into effect in 2012, has been mutually beneficial. But Washington said it has had a persistent goods deficit with South Korea for nearly two decades.

Seoul's imports of US agricultural goods such as corn and wheat reached $4.3 billion last year. It imported livestock, including beef and pork, worth $1.8 billion, it showed.

Beef topped the list of import goods from the US with $1.03 billion in imports. Its market share came in at 48.4 percent in the January-May period, followed by that of Australian beef with 42.8 percent.

This year marked the first time that US beef's market portion surpassed that of Australian beef in South Korea.

"US beef is attracting South Korean consumers as its prices remain affordable when it comes to quality," said an official at the US Meat Export Federation.

An official at South Korea's No. 1 discount retail outlet E-Mart said that fruits from the US such as oranges and cherries took up the largest portion in shelves among imports.

"Consumers are increasingly buying US fresh foods like lobster and meats," he said.

The Korea-US FTA has widely been viewed as a symbol of the economic alliance between the two countries.

Experts said that even though the US has a deficit in goods trade, the country has enjoyed surpluses in services trade under the deal, and US deficits in goods trade would have been larger had it not been for the pact. (Yonhap)