SEOUL -- South Korea's bourse operator will keep closer tabs on stock price manipulation and other unfair trades conducted via the Internet and social networking services, officials said Sunday.
   
To that end, the Korea Exchange (KRX) will establish a cyber supervision center to conduct a real-time check on rumors concerning stock price rigging and other unfair trading activities, the KRX officials said.
   
"The KRX is preparing a system designed to filter rumors circulated online," a KRX official said. "It is part of efforts to ramp up cyber monitoring of stock price manipulation."
   
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), the country's financial watchdog, also said it is working closely with the KRX to detect attempts to rig stock prices through the Internet and other smart media.
   
The stepped-up efforts come as rumors used for stock price manipulation are increasingly being circulated through smartphones, Facebook or Twitter, as well as the Internet.
   
On Thursday, the FSS said it is pushing to raise the reward for reports on stock price rigging as part of an effort to stem market manipulation that can result in massive damages for retail investors.
   
The extent of how much it will raise the reward hasn't been determined yet, they said. Currently, the reward stands at 100 million won (US$90,000).
   
The regulator's move came as part of broader efforts by the new government to clamp down on illegal activities in the market. President Park Geun-hye pushed for a plan to regularize the underground economy during her campaign.
   
The justice ministry said Wednesday that it is pushing to empower the FSS to launch its own investigations into stock price manipulation in an effort to accelerate probes into complicated financial crimes.
   
Currently, prosecutors have the exclusive right to launch probes into stock price rigging after being tipped off on suspicious trading by the financial regulator and the bourse operator. (Yonhap News)