South Korea GDP up 2.3% at 2-year high in Q2

South Korea's economy grew at its fastest pace in two years in the April-June period on government stimulus and a rise in consumer spending, its central bank said Thursday. Gross domestic product expanded 2.3 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, accelerating from the first-quarter's 1.5 percent gain, the Bank of Korea said. GDP rose a seasonally adjusted 1.1 percent in the second quarter from the previous quarter when the economy grew 0.8 percent on-quarter. It is the strongest pace since the first quarter of 2011, when the economy grew 1.3 percent on quarter. "Facilities investment declined, but private consumption swung to growth. Government spending also increased," the bank said in a statement.