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UPDATE 1-S.Korea September trade surplus highest in 5 years

(Updates with government comments, details)

SEOUL, Oct 1 (Reuters) - South Korea saw its biggest trade surplus in 57 months for September, driven by improved exports to China and brisk shipments of mobile phones, computers and automobiles, the commerce ministry said on Wednesday.

South Korea's provisional trade surplus was $2.6 billion in September, the highest since December 1998, when it hit $3.77 billion, and up from a revised $909 million surplus a year earlier, the ministry said.

Some analysts caution that the big surplus is a reflection of depressed domestic consumption and investment, rather than a balanced economy.

"Exports to China continued to rise steadily. Exporters made extra efforts to overcome a slump in domestic consumption," said Lee Seung-hoon, director-general for the ministry's trade policy division. "By item, wireless telecommunications devices, semiconductors, computers and automobiles led exports."

Exports rose 23.8 percent year-on-year to $17.2 billion in September, while imports were up 12.3 percent at $14.6 billion, the ministry said.

Exports of mobile phones and other wireless telecoms products jumped 37.7 percent in September from a year earlier and computer exports increased 33.7 percent, it said.

South Korean automakers, which saw a return to normal production after labour unrest in July and August, exported 41 percent more in September than a year ago, it said.

Commerce minister Yoon Jin-sik said last week exports were expected to hit a record $180 billion this year despite the firmer won versus the dollar and higher oil prices. He added the country's trade surplus this year would exceed an earlier forecast of $8 billion.

South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy, slid into its first recession in five years in the first half of 2003, hit by a slowdown in domestic spending and investment. Exports have been one of the economy's few areas of growth.