The use of credit cards by South Koreans rose 10.9 percent in the first half from a year earlier as more people tapped cards for their transaction convenience and due to the economic recovery, the central bank said Wednesday. Credit card spending amounted to 1.46 trillion won (US$1.35 billion) per day in the January-June period, compared with 1.32 trillion won a year earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The data is based on spending via plastic money at home and abroad, issued by local credit card firms.