South Korea posted a record-low deficit in the trade of intellectual property rights last year due to a record-high surplus in copyright earnings from arts and culture, attributed to the popularity of Korean cultural content such as K-pop.

According to Bank of Korea data on Friday, the deficit in the intellectual property account came to 30 million dollars last year, down by nearly two billion dollars from the previous year. This year’s total is the smallest deficit since the agency began compiling data in 2010.

Industrial property rights such as patents ran a deficit of two-point-21 billion dollars while copyrights posted a surplus of two-point-45 billion.

The central bank attributed the surplus mainly to increased imports of software and cultural copyrights on music, cinema and TV shows.

Last year, copyright trade in arts and culture posted a record surplus of 750 million dollars as local entertainment companies exported a growing volume of Korean cultural content.

By country, South Korea logged deficits in trade of intellectual property rights with the U.S., UK and Japan while posting a surplus with China and Vietnam.