South Korea's trade dependence on the United States and Japan dropped in the first seven months of this year from a year ago, while its trade with China is increasing, officials said here Sunday.

South Korea's exports to the United States stood at 26.9 billion won (28.7 million U.S. dollars) in the January-July period, accounting for 12.9 percent of the nation's total exports of 208 billion won (222 million dollars) in the same period, down 0.7 percentage point on-year, the Korea Customs Service (KCS) said in a statement.

The ratio of U.S.-bound shipments compared to the nation's total exports has been decreasing since 2000 when it reached 21.8 percent. It has then slid to 17.7 percent in 2003, 16.9 percent in2004, 14.5 percent in 2005 and 13.3 percent in 2006, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency Sunday.

The nation's imports from the United States were 21.6 billion won (23 million dollars) in the same period, down 0.2 percentage point year-on-year to 10.8 percent of its all imports of 199 billion won (212.3 million dollars).

The portion of the country's imports from the U.S. also has been dropping since 2000 when it accounted for 17.3 percent of its all imports. It accounted for 15.9 percent in 2001, 15.1 percent in 2002, 13.9 percent in 2004, 11.7 percent in 2005 and 10.9 percent in 2006.

Meanwhile, South Korea's shipments to Japan reached 14.9 billion won (15.9 million dollars) by July, representing 7.2 percent of its aggregate exports, down 1.1 percentage points from a year ago.

The nation's exports to Japan have been falling since 2001 when it represented 11 percent of all its exports, KCS said.

In the January-July period, South Korea's imports from Japan were valued at 32.1 billion won (34.3 million dollars), or 16.1 percent of its overall imports.

"South Korea's efforts to diversify trade partners led to a fall in its trade dependence on the United States and Japan, while China has become South Korea's biggest trade partner," said an industry official.

The portion of China in South Korea's entire exports grew to 21.5 percent this year from 10.7 percent in 2000, while China accounted for 17.6 percent of South Korea's total imports this year, up from 8 percent in 2000.