According to the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), cars shipped to the United States in the January-September period totaled just under $11.26 billion, up about a mere $2 million from a year earlier. The lackluster numbers come after South Korean auto exports to the world's No. 1 economy actually contracted 10.9 percent on-year in 2016.

Auto exports accounted for 21.6 percent of all South Korea goods shipped to the North American country this year, down from 23.5 percent in 2016, KITA said.

The latest findings also revealed that car parts exports declined 2.8 percent on-year in 2016 and backtracked 13.4 percent this year to $4.54 billion.

KITA said the weak number for autos are in direct contrast to the surge in cars before the FTA with the US went into effect in 2012. At that time, exports rose an average 37.2 percent annually.

On the other hand, imports of US-made cars moved up to $1.35 billion won this year from $1.25 billion tallied a year earlier.

The market share of US cars in South Korea reached 18 percent in

2016 from 9.6 percent before the open trade pact went into effect.

South Korea had slashed by half its 8 percent tariffs levied on US-made cars once the FTA was implemented and started to allow American cars into the country without duties last year.

"Trade and market data clearly showed the U.S. deficit in auto trade is not linked to the FTA, with American cars slowly making inroads into the South Korean market," a KITA official said. He added such facts need to be made clear in upcoming trade talks with Washington to revise the five-year-old trade agreement. (Yonhap)