SEOUL, Jan. 7 -- South Korea's trade surplus in industrial parts and components topped 100 billion U.S. dollars for the first time in the country's history, a government report showed Wednesday.

Trade surplus in industrial materials and components reached 107.9 billion dollars in 2014, more than double the 47.4 billion- dollar surplus for the overall industry, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Exports in the sector increased 4.9 percent from a year earlier to 276 billion dollars in 2014, accounting for about half of exports in the overall industry. Imports rose 1.6 percent to 168.1 billion dollars.

The industrial parts sector posted the first trade surplus in 1997, keeping a surplus trend in the past 17 years and exceeding the landmark level last year.

Industrial parts export increased 5.9 percent from a year earlier to 188 billion dollars in 2014 on growing demand from advanced economies, and material exports rose 3 percent to 88 billion dollars on demand for primary metal products and nonmetallic mineral.

By region, South Korea posted the largest trade surplus of 46.9 billion dollars in the sector with China, followed by a 21.6 billion-dollar surplus with the ASEAN and a 12.8 billion-dollar surplus with Latin American countries.

Trade deficit with Japan in the sector reduced to 16.3 billion dollars in 2014 from 20.5 billion dollars in 2013. The country's dependence on Japan for parts and material import fell to a record low of 18.1 percent in 2014, keeping a downward trend for five straight years.