And in trade, South Korea recorded a healthy current account surplus in June.
Not as big as a year earlier, though.
Kim Hyesung has the data from the nation's central bank.
South Korea's current account surplus hit 7-point-4 billion U.S. dollars in June, to mark 76 straight months in the black.
But the current account surplus for the first half of this year as a whole dropped nearly 17 percent on-year to 29-point-six billion,.. . the lowest figure in six years.
"The goods account surplus in the first half of this year shrank from last year's 56-point-nine billion to 55-point-seven billion dollars... as the value of imports rose faster than exports because of higher oil prices."
Exports of goods in the first half of this year rose eight-point-eight percent on-year on the back of semiconductors and machinery.
But goods imports rose by a bigger margin of 11-point-five percent on rising global oil prices, which went up by 16 dollars a barrel compared to the first half of last year.
The service account deficit hit 2-point-45 billion dollars in June.
In the first half of this year, the service account deficit widened from last year's 15-point-four billion dollars to 15-point-nine billion dollars.
The bank attributed the rise to the sluggish domestic shipping industry and a bigger deficit in the travel account.
The travel account deficit hit eight-point-five billion, marking the second-largest half-yearly loss following a record high tallied in the second half of 2017.
This came mainly as the number of domestic departures outpaced the number of foreign arrivals.
The financial account, which shows capital outflows and inflows, recorded a surplus of 4-point-seven billion dollars in June, and 24 billion for the first half of this year.
Both down from the same period last year... as Korean companies increased their investment abroad and their dividend payments.
Kim Hyesung, Arirang News.
