The October figure represents the highest monthly level since a surplus of $11.11 billion recorded in October last year.
The cumulative current account surplus reached $70.66 billion in the first 10 months of this year, up $2.34 billion from the same period of last year, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said.
The BOK forecast that this year's current account surplus will reach a record high of $84 billion, compared with the previous record of $79.9 billion set in 2013.
BOK officials said the surplus widened in October as the goods account surplus amounted to $8.66 billion, up $1.15 billion from $7.51 billion a month ago.
However, the officials raised concerns about what they called "a surplus stemming from a decrease both in imports and exports." Imports dropped 7.5 percent to $43.51 billion in October from the same month last year, while exports declined 8.2 percent to $52.16.
The country's service account deficit inched down to $250 million from $280 million the previous month, the BOK report said.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
