Korean corporate bankruptcies reach a five-month high

The number of Korean corporate bankruptcies rose to a five-month high in October, the central bank said yesterday, in a sign that the local economy is slowing down.

The number of companies that went belly up totaled 118 last month, up from 97 tallied in September, according to the Bank of Korea. The corporate failures reached a record low of 96 in July. Meanwhile, the number of newly established companies came in at 5,074 in October, up 304 from the previous month, the bank added.

The default rate of corporate bills - bonds, checks and promissory notes - reached 0.01 percent last month, unchanged from September, the BOK said. The Korean economy grew 0.7 percent on-quarter in the July-September period, slowing from 0.9 percent on-quarter growth in the second quarter. The BOK said that Asia’s fourth-largest economy is expected to grow less than 4.3 percent this year, down from 6.2 percent growth reached in 2010.