[THE INVESTOR] An increasing number of South Korean households face the risk of defaulting on their debts, a lawmaker said on Sept. 27.

The number of “marginal” households came to 1.34 million as of March last year, a sharp increase from 1.12 million three years earlier, according to Rep. Lee Un-ju of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea.

Their combined debts totaled 234.5 trillion won (US$210 billion).

Marginal households refer to families with more financial liabilities than their financial assets, with their debt service burden exceeding 40 percent of the disposable income.

Lee released the data ahead of the annual parliamentary audit of the finance ministry’s work.

Households here are also increasingly over-indebted. The number of households in danger of going bankrupt came to 1.11 million with 161.8 trillion won of total debts as of March 2015, added Lee.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)