South Korea's trade surplus widened in June from the previous month, though imports continued to grow at a much faster rate than exports, the government said Friday.

   The country's trade surplus came to US$3.3 billion last month, compared with a surplus of $2.75 billion in May, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy. The figure marks a 14.5 percent gain from the same period last year.

   Exports rose 14.5 percent from a year earlier to $48.2 billion in June with imports jumping 27.4 percent on-year to $44.9 billion.

   In the first half of the year, the cumulative trade surplus came to $17.4 billion with exports rising 24.4 percent on-year to $275.4 billion and imports gaining 26.6 percent to $258 billion.

Source: Yonhap News (July 1, 2011)