South Korea's overseas financial assets hit a new high in the second quarter, mainly due to increased stock investments, central bank data showed Thursday.

The nation's external financial assets came to $2.07 trillion at the end of June, up $85 billion from a quarter earlier, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.

The net international investment position came to $490.7 billion as of the end of June, up $12 billion from a quarter earlier, the data showed.

The position refers to the difference between Korea's external financial assets and the domestic assets owned by foreigners. It serves as a measure of a country's external solvency.

South Korea's external debt stood at $1.58 trillion as of end-June, $73.1 billion more than a year earlier.

Short-term foreign debt, which matures within one year, rose by $38.3 billion over the cited period, with long-term debt growing by $26 billion.

South Korea's short-term external debt accounted for 29.5 percent of its outstanding external liabilities.

The ratio of short-term foreign debt to foreign reserves stood at 39.2 percent at the end of June, up 2.1 percentage points from a quarter earlier. (Yonhap)