Startup growth in South Korea slowed for two straight months due to less business days, central bank data showed Tuesday.

The number of newly established firms registered in the court as a corporate body stood at 6,400 in September, down 151 from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

It was attributed to the Chuseok holiday, equivalent to the Thanksgiving Day in the United States, which reduced the country' s working day by one in September compared with the prior month.

The figure continued to fall after peaking at 8,129 in July, marking the highest since the BOK began compiling the related data in 1998.

From a year earlier, the number increased 1,215 in September as retired baby boomers set up businesses thanks to strong government support.

Corporate bankruptcy increased last month. The number of companies that went belly-up was 70 in September, up eight from a month ago.

Companies, which failed to redeem promissory notes and checks, trended down from 2013 because banks turned generous toward small firms in terms of loans.

The number of manufacturers going bankrupt increased from 22 in August to 26 in September, with the figure for service companies rising from 22 to 27 in the same period.

The default rate on corporate bills, including promissory notes, checks and bonds, came in at 0.22 percent in September, down 0.06 percentage point from the previous month. Endi

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