The national debt is expected to snowball to 445.2 trillion won ($339 billion) this year and 464.8 trillion won next year, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance’s 2012-2016 National Debt Management Plan.

According to the plan submitted to the National Assembly on Tuesday, this year’s total debt is expected to increase by 5.9 percent compared to 2011, and next year’s by 4.4 percent compared to this year.

The national debt increase is expected to slowdown to 1 to 2 percent in 2014. The amount is forecasted to reach 470.6 trillion won in 2014, 481.2 trillion won in 2015 and 487.5 trillion won in 2016.

By Park Min-young (claire@heraldcorp.com)