S Korea's corporate bankruptcies rise in June

SEOUL - South Korea's corporate bankruptcies rose last month, the central bank said Thursday.

The number of companies that went belly-up stood at 103 in June, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The figure dropped from 110 in April to 102 in May.

The number of failures for service firms and builders contracted by 6 and 1 respectively last month, but the reading for both manufacturers and other firms increased 4 each in June.

Meanwhile, the number of newly established firms stood at 6,744 in June, up 617 from the previous month, according to the BOK. The ratio of startups to bankrupt companies surged to 91.1 in June from 85.1 in May.

The default rate on corporate bills, including bonds, checks and promissory notes, stood at 0.02 percent last month, up 0.01 percentage point from a month earlier.