South Korea's current account surplus soared to a fresh record high in June as an increase in the surplus in the goods balance offset a widening service account deficit caused by the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, data showed Monday.

The current account surplus reached US$12.19 billion in June, compared with a revised $8.62 billion surplus in May, according to the provisional data released by the Bank of Korea. The current account is the biggest measure of cross-border trade.

With the latest data, the Korean economy posted an accumulative current account surplus of a record $52.39 billion for the January-June period, compared with a $39.43 billion surplus last year.

The amount accounts for roughly 54 percent of the central bank's annual current account surplus estimate of $98 billion. Last month, the BOK raised its forecast to $98 billion from $96 billion, citing a fall in raw material prices and sluggish sales in the tourism industry.

The on-month surplus increase was largely attributed to a gain in the balance of goods, which reached $13.22 billion in June as imports fell at a sharper pace than exports. While exports fell 2 percent on-year, imports tumbled 17.3 percent.

A gain in the primary income account surplus also helped boost the monthly current account surplus. The primary income account surplus reached $1.68 billion in June, growing more than fivefold from a $293.6 million surplus the previous month on a rise in dividend income.

The service account hit a deep low, posting a shortfall of $2.49 billion, compared with a $397.6 million deficit due mainly to a drop in foreign tourists who called off their travel plans on fears of contracting MERS. Inbound tourists plunged 41 percent in June.

The deficit marks the biggest shortfall in nearly five years following a $2.65 billion deficit posted in December 2010.

A BOK official noted that the service account deficit widened in the first six months of the year from a year earlier due to several factors, including the MERS outbreak.

"In addition to a widening deficit in the travel account that was affected by MERS, the surplus in the transport account narrowed due to the sluggish marine transportation industry and the surplus in the construction account also narrowed due to weak construction businesses overseas," said Park Seung-hwan of the BOK's Monetary & Financial Statistics Division.

The MERS outbreak, which was first reported in the country in late May, claimed 36 lives here until the government declared a de facto end to the outbreak late last month. (Yonhap)