S.Korea unveils $10.2 billion package to ease oil burden

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea said on Sunday it would spend 10.5 trillion won ($10.2 billion) over a year to help ease the financial burden on some 14 million people from a surge in oil prices, calling the situation a crisis.

South Korea, the world's fifth-largest oil consumer, plans to refund part of the additional money that low income earners spend on buying fuel, the government said in a statement, which Prime Minister Han Seung-soo announced.

It said the package accounts for half of the additional cost rising oil prices cost the country of 49 million people annually.

It added that the government did not need to collect additional tax or incur debt to fund the package but would use surplus tax revenues from last year and a surplus expected over the next year.

($1=1031.0 Won)

(Reporting by Yoo Choonsik, Editing by Jacqueline Wong)