Trade surplus amounted to 4 billion U.S. dollars in February, staying in black for the 97th consecutive month since February 2012, according to Korea Customs Service.
Export, which takes up about half of the South Korean economy, rebounded 4.3 percent from a year earlier to 41.2 billion U.S. dollars in February, after sliding 6.5 percent in the previous month.
The rebound came as the number of business days increased last month due to the Lunar New Year's holiday that moved to January this year from February last year.
For the first two months of this year, the outbound shipment came in at 84.4 billion U.S. dollars, down 1.5 percent from the same period of last year.
Semiconductor export expanded 8.8 percent in February from a year earlier on solid demand for integrated circuit and DRAM memory chip, and auto parts shipment advanced in double figures.
Export for telecommunication devices such as smartphone gained 7.0 percent, but shipments for automobiles and consumer electronics retreated in double digits.
Import added 1.5 percent over the year to 37.2 billion U.S. dollars in February, after skidding 5.4 percent in the previous month.
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