South Korea's imports from the U.S. outpaced imports from Japan after surging more than 16 percent last year. 

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on Thursday that South Korea’s imports from the U.S. amounted to 58-point-nine billion dollars last year, up 16-point-two percent from the previous year. 

The announcement came a day before South Korea and the U.S. will mark the seventh anniversary of their bilateral free trade agreement. 

With such a rise in imports, the market share of U.S. goods in South Korea reached eleven percent, the second highest after China. Previously, Japan had been South Korea’s second largest source of imports. 

Meanwhile, the market share of South Korean goods in the U.S. amounted to two-point-nine percent, down from the three-point-two percent posted in 2016. 

The ministry said South Korea’s imports from the U.S. rose after imports of crude oil skyrocketed by 520 percent while imports of liquefied petroleum gas and natural gas also surged.

In addition, the ministry found that South Korea’s exports to the U.S. grew only six percent to reach 72-point-seven billion dollars. The resulting trade surplus remained high at 13-point-eight percent but marked a nearly 23 percent decline compared to the previous year.