South Korea’s dependency on Japanese imports is on a declining trajectory, following Tokyo's export restrictions imposed on South Korea last July. 

Marking one year since the adoption of the controversial rules, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in a report issued Sunday said it found South Korean industries' overall reliance on Japanese imports was down slightly, at nine percent in the fourth quarter of 2019 from nine-point-eight percent in the first quarter of the same year.   

It did cite a slight rise in parts and materials imports, up from 15-point-seven percent in the first three months against 16 percent in the final three months of of 2019.  

The report also noted that - for the first time since records were logged in 1965 - Japanese imports accounted for a single digit figure, nine-and-a-half-percent, of South Korea’s overall imports last year.

A KCCI-KOTRA joint survey on 302 businesses found that 84 percent were not directly affected by Japan's export restrictions against South Korea. Among those who said they were impacted, more than half cited 'longer transaction time' as the primary effect.