South Korea's unemployment rate rose for the first time in five months in May, data from Statistics Korea showed on Wednesday.
The jobless rate rose a seasonally adjusted 2.8 percent in May from 2.7 percent in April.
In May last year, the unemployment rate was 3.7 percent.
On an unadjusted basis, the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.0 percent in May. In the same month last year, the unemployment rate was 4.0 percent.
The number of unemployed increased to 889,000 in May from 864,000 in the preceding month. Compared to a year ago, the figure decreased by 259,000 persons.
The number of employed persons increased by 935,000 year-on-year to 28.485 million in May.
