South Korea’s trade deficit topped 10 billion U.S. dollars in the first 20 days of August due to faster growth in the import than export, customs office data showed Monday. Trade deficit reached 10.22 billion dollars in the Aug. 1-20 period, up from a deficit of 3.58 billion dollars tallied in the same period of last year, according to Korea Customs Service. The country has reported trade deficits in the past four months, with the deficits of 2.48 billion dollars in April, 1.6 billion dollars in May, 2.49 billion dollars in June, and 4.8 billion dollars in July. Export added 3.9 percent from a year earlier to 33.42 billion dollars for the first 20 days of this month, while import surged 22.1 percent to 43.64 billion dollars. Import of the country’s three major energy sources — crude oil, natural gas and coal — totaled 12.49 billion dollars in the 20-day period, up 71.0 percent from a year earlier.