diff --git a/api/filters/imagetag/updater.go b/api/filters/imagetag/updater.go
index d2a728498a..58297d4415 100644
--- a/api/filters/imagetag/updater.go
+++ b/api/filters/imagetag/updater.go
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ package imagetag
 import (
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/filters/filtersutil"
 
-	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/image"
+	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/internal/image"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/types"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/kyaml/yaml"
 )
diff --git a/api/image/image.go b/api/internal/image/image.go
similarity index 100%
rename from api/image/image.go
rename to api/internal/image/image.go
diff --git a/api/image/image_test.go b/api/internal/image/image_test.go
similarity index 92%
rename from api/image/image_test.go
rename to api/internal/image/image_test.go
index 9c3cd3b0a4..6d40306f38 100644
--- a/api/image/image_test.go
+++ b/api/internal/image/image_test.go
@@ -1,12 +1,13 @@
 // Copyright 2020 The Kubernetes Authors.
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
-package image
+package image_test
 
 import (
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/internal/image"
 )
 
 func TestIsImageMatched(t *testing.T) {
@@ -50,7 +51,7 @@ func TestIsImageMatched(t *testing.T) {
 
 	for _, tc := range testCases {
 		t.Run(tc.testName, func(t *testing.T) {
-			assert.Equal(t, tc.isMatched, IsImageMatched(tc.value, tc.name))
+			assert.Equal(t, tc.isMatched, image.IsImageMatched(tc.value, tc.name))
 		})
 	}
 }
@@ -116,7 +117,7 @@ func TestSplit(t *testing.T) {
 
 	for _, tc := range testCases {
 		t.Run(tc.testName, func(t *testing.T) {
-			name, tag, digest := Split(tc.value)
+			name, tag, digest := image.Split(tc.value)
 			assert.Equal(t, tc.name, name)
 			assert.Equal(t, tc.tag, tag)
 			assert.Equal(t, tc.digest, digest)
diff --git a/go.work.sum b/go.work.sum
index 55f6b51901..08f0dd820c 100644
--- a/go.work.sum
+++ b/go.work.sum
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ golang.org/x/sys v0.0.0-20211216021012-1d35b9e2eb4e/go.mod h1:oPkhp1MJrh7nUepCBc
 golang.org/x/sys v0.0.0-20220715151400-c0bba94af5f8/go.mod h1:oPkhp1MJrh7nUepCBck5+mAzfO9JrbApNNgaTdGDITg=
 golang.org/x/sys v0.3.0/go.mod h1:oPkhp1MJrh7nUepCBck5+mAzfO9JrbApNNgaTdGDITg=
 golang.org/x/sys v0.6.0/go.mod h1:oPkhp1MJrh7nUepCBck5+mAzfO9JrbApNNgaTdGDITg=
-golang.org/x/term v0.0.0-20210927222741-03fcf44c2211/go.mod h1:jbD1KX2456YbFQfuXm/mYQcufACuNUgVhRMnK/tPxf8=
 golang.org/x/term v0.0.0-20220526004731-065cf7ba2467/go.mod h1:jbD1KX2456YbFQfuXm/mYQcufACuNUgVhRMnK/tPxf8=
 golang.org/x/text v0.5.0/go.mod h1:mrYo+phRRbMaCq/xk9113O4dZlRixOauAjOtrjsXDZ8=
 golang.org/x/tools v0.1.12/go.mod h1:hNGJHUnrk76NpqgfD5Aqm5Crs+Hm0VOH/i9J2+nxYbc=
@@ -38,10 +37,7 @@ golang.org/x/tools v0.4.0/go.mod h1:UE5sM2OK9E/d67R0ANs2xJizIymRP5gJU295PvKXxjQ=
 golang.org/x/tools v0.6.0/go.mod h1:Xwgl3UAJ/d3gWutnCtw505GrjyAbvKui8lOU390QaIU=
 golang.org/x/tools v0.7.0/go.mod h1:4pg6aUX35JBAogB10C9AtvVL+qowtN4pT3CGSQex14s=
 golang.org/x/xerrors v0.0.0-20220907171357-04be3eba64a2/go.mod h1:K8+ghG5WaK9qNqU5K3HdILfMLy1f3aNYFI/wnl100a8=
+golang.org/x/xerrors v0.0.0-20220907171357-04be3eba64a2/go.mod h1:K8+ghG5WaK9qNqU5K3HdILfMLy1f3aNYFI/wnl100a8=
 google.golang.org/protobuf v1.28.1/go.mod h1:HV8QOd/L58Z+nl8r43ehVNZIU/HEI6OcFqwMG9pJV4I=
 k8s.io/klog v1.0.0 h1:Pt+yjF5aB1xDSVbau4VsWe+dQNzA0qv1LlXdC2dF6Q8=
-k8s.io/klog/v2 v2.80.1/go.mod h1:y1WjHnz7Dj687irZUWR/WLkLc5N1YHtjLdmgWjndZn0=
-k8s.io/kube-openapi v0.0.0-20230308215209-15aac26d736a/go.mod h1:y5VtZWM9sHHc2ZodIH/6SHzXj+TPU5USoA8lcIeKEKY=
-k8s.io/kube-openapi v0.0.0-20230501164219-8b0f38b5fd1f/go.mod h1:byini6yhqGC14c3ebc/QwanvYwhuMWF6yz2F8uwW8eg=
-k8s.io/utils v0.0.0-20230209194617-a36077c30491/go.mod h1:OLgZIPagt7ERELqWJFomSt595RzquPNLL48iOWgYOg0=
 sigs.k8s.io/structured-merge-diff v1.0.1-0.20191108220359-b1b620dd3f06 h1:zD2IemQ4LmOcAumeiyDWXKUI2SO0NYDe3H6QGvPOVgU=