South Korea's overseas assets rose to a record high in the third quarter of this year, with its short-term foreign debt also dipping from three months earlier, the central bank said Monday.
  

According to the Bank of Korea, the country's external assets stood at $722 billion as of end-September, $5.1 billion more than three months earlier, the highest tallied so far.
  

This marks a gain from $716.9 billion reached at the end of June and much larger than $683.6 billion tallied in late 2014.
  

South Korea's foreign debt dipped in the third quarter of this year from three months earlier as both long-term and short-term debt declined.
  

The country's debt totaled $409.1 billion in the July-September period, down $14.6 billion from the second quarter.
  

Long-term debt backtracked $8.9 billion to $289.5 billion, while short-term debt was down $5.6 billion to $119.6 billion.
  

The decline was attributed to local banks paying back outstanding foreign loans and less foreign investments going into South Korean bonds.
  

The ratio of short-term foreign debt to its foreign reserves reached 32.5 percent, down 0.9 percentage point from the previous quarter.
  

The country's short-term debt vis-a-vis all external liabilities also inched down 0.3 percentage point to 29.2 percent. Lower numbers mean the country is better able to pay back debt.
 
 
South Korea's net international investment stood at $17.3 billion as of end-September, marking a positive balance for the first time, according to the central bank. (Yonhap)