South Korea’s surplus in trade of cultural products and services widened in the first five months of this year on the popularity of its pop culture in overseas countries, data showed Wednesday.

The account tracking exports and imports of cultural products and contents logged a surplus of $52 million in the first five months of this year, compared with a surplus of $43.5 million the previous year, according to the data compiled by the Bank of Korea.

In the January-May period, South Korea earned income worth $551.8 million by selling cultural products and services while it provided fees or charges worth $499.8 million for the use of foreign cultural content.

Korea posted its first-ever surplus of $85.5 million last year in trade of cultural products and services.

The improvement in the account mainly resulted from the popularity of Korean popular culture, called “hallyu” in Korean, watchers said.

Hallyu, or the Korean wave, refers to the popularity of TV shows and music that has secured hordes of fans in Asia, Europe and the Americas.

The account which tracks trade of cultural products is part of the service account, which includes outlays by South Koreans on overseas trips. (Yonhap News)