South Korea had a merchandise trade deficit of $9.47 billion in August, Statistics Korea said on Thursday.
That missed expectations for a shortfall of $8.0 billion following the downwardly revised $4.8 billion deficit in July (originally a deficit of $4.67 billion).
Exports were up 6.6 percent on year - exceeding forecasts for an increase of 5.5 percent following the downwardly revised 9.2 percent increase in the previous month (originally 9.4 percent).
Exports surged an annual 28.2 percent versus expectations for a gain of 22.9 percent following the 21.8 percent jump in July.
