South Korea's trade balance in music, movies, games and other entertainment products has posted a surplus so far this year, helped by the growing popularity of Korean culture, data showed Sunday.

The trade surplus involving personal, cultural and entertainment products came to $37.3 million up until the third quarter, according to the data provided by financial information provider FnGuide and the Bank of Korea.

This marked a turnaround from a deficit of $218.5 million tallied during the same period of last year.

The balance involves the trading of music, movies, broadcast programs, games and other cultural and entertainment products.

South Korea has been in the red in those areas for many years. 

The turnaround stemmed mostly from growing popularity of Korean culture across the world. 

In particular, rapper-singer Psy's global hit "Gangnam Style" and the winning of the best film award at this year's Venice International Film by "Pieta" helped raise the recognition of Korean culture, which translated into more demand.

Up until the end of the third quarter, the deficit in the audio and video service sector, in particular, came to $32.1 million but the country posted $16.7 million in surplus during the third quarter alone, trimming the cumulative shortfalls, according to the data.

Experts expect that the personal, cultural and entertainment product trade balance will likely post a surplus for the first time this year if the current popularity of Korean pop culture continues.

(Yonhap News)