South Korea's factory activity expanded in May at the fastest pace in two years on stronger growth in output and orders thanks to broadening global demand, a private-sector survey showed on Monday, Reuters reported. The purchasing managers index (PMI) for manufacturers in Asia's fourth-largest economy, compiled by S&P Global, rose to 51.6 in May, from 49.4 in April, on a seasonally adjusted basis. It was the highest reading since May 2022, and comes after two consecutive months below the 50-mark separating expansion from contraction.

South Korea has no plan to lift the short-selling ban until a system is developed to detect illegal trading activities, according to a senior official at the presidential office, Bloomberg News reported. The presidential office’s stance is to not resume short selling until there is a platform to root out naked short sales, the person said. Separately, the Financial Services Commission, the nation’s financial regulator, said no decision has been made regarding the ban.

South Korea’s economy grew at a stronger-than-expected pace in the first quarter on improving private consumption, construction increases and steady exports, the Wall Street Journal reported. Gross domestic product in Asia’s fourth-largest economy expanded 3.4% year-over-year during the January-March period, accelerating from the previous quarter’s 2.2% growth, Bank of Korea preliminary data showed Thursday. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the economy grew 1.3% for the first three months of 2024, faster than the prior quarter’s 0.6% expansion, according to the central bank.

South Korea is emerging as a closely watched weak link in the $63 trillion world of shadow banking, Bloomberg News reported. Real estate exposure has been showing cracks at home and abroad after interest rates rose, prompting financial firms including T. Rowe Price Group Inc. and Nomura Holdings Inc. to express concern about stress in shadow loans to the sector. Delinquency rates at one key group of Korean lenders nearly doubled to 6.55% last year, while economists at Citigroup Inc.

South Korea's finance minister stepped up warnings on Monday that the government is ready to act to counter any renewed volatility in currency markets after the won has extended declines against the dollar to hit the lowest in a year and a half, Reuters reported. "We will swiftly act according to contingency plans and will play any necessary role to respond to any excessive volatility in forex and other financial markets," Choi Sang-mok said at a policy meeting urgently scheduled to discuss escalating tensions in the Middle East.

South Korea’s central bank held its base rate steady for a 10th consecutive time, as widely expected, keeping its guard up against still-stubborn inflation, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Bank of Korea’s decision signals that it is in no rush to ease policy, especially at a time when expectations for the U.S. possible rate cut in June are receding after hotter-than-expected consumer inflation earlier this week. The BOK on Friday kept its benchmark seven-day repurchase rate unchanged at 3.50%, a 15-year high set in January 2023.

South Korea’s headline inflation topped 3% for a second consecutive month in March, remaining sticky and well above the central bank’s 2% target, the Wall Street Journal reported. The latest inflation print, which came ahead of the Bank of Korea’s rate-decision meeting next week, is likely to bolster the bank’s current stance to not rush for easing but stand pat for now before it starts rate cuts. The benchmark consumer-price index rose 3.1% from a year earlier, the same pace as in February, the country’s statistics office said on Tuesday.

South Korea’s financial watchdog urged lenders to expand financial support for troubled builders as concerns grow over risks from distressed real estate projects, Bloomberg News reported. The number of project finance sites seeing “significantly worsening profitability” is rising due to high interest rates and construction costs, Lee Bokhyun, governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, said in a Thursday meeting with financial and construction firms.

An appeals court in Montenegro on Wednesday confirmed that a South Korean mogul known as “the cryptocurrency king” will be handed over to his native country, the Associated Press reported. Both South Korea and the U.S. had requested Do Kwon’s extradition from Montenegro. A Montenegrin court initially decided he should be handed over to the U.S. but that ruling was later overturned in favor of South Korea. The Appeals Court of Montenegro approved an earlier ruling by the High Court to extradite Kwon to South Korea rather than the United States, a statement said.

Disgraced cryptocurrency entrepreneur Do Kwon should be extradited to the U.S. to face trial on fraud charges, rather than to his native South Korea, a court in the tiny Balkan country of Montenegro has ruled, the Wall Street Journal reported. Kwon’s lawyers have three days to appeal the ruling by the High Court in the Montenegrin capital of Podgorica, a spokeswoman for the court said Wednesday. The appeals court will have the final word in the case, she added. A local lawyer for Kwon, Goran Rodić, called the ruling illegal and pledged to appeal.