diff --git a/api/pkg/util/image.go b/api/pkg/util/image.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..cf44f99cee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/pkg/util/image.go
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+package util
+
+import (
+	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/internal/image"
+)
+
+// Splits image string name into name, tag and digest
+func SplitImageName(imageName string) (name string, tag string, digest string) {
+	return image.Split(imageName)
+}
diff --git a/kustomize/commands/edit/set/setimage.go b/kustomize/commands/edit/set/setimage.go
index a9ac3825d1..570111a5e9 100644
--- a/kustomize/commands/edit/set/setimage.go
+++ b/kustomize/commands/edit/set/setimage.go
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"sort"
 	"strings"
 
-	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/image"
+	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/pkg/util"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/types"
 
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
@@ -215,7 +215,7 @@ func parse(arg string) (types.Image, error) {
 		return types.Image{}, err
 	}
 
-	name, tag, digest := image.Split(value)
+	name, tag, digest := util.SplitImageName(value)
 	if name == arg {
 		return types.Image{}, errImageInvalidArgs
 	}