The Korea Times
Korea's national debt exceeded 1,300 trillion won ($861.2 billion) last year, with the debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio nearing 50 percent, the finance ministry said Monday. Sovereign debt, which covers bond sales and financial borrowing by central and provincial governments, amounted to 1,304.5 trillion won as of end-2025, up 129.4 trillion won from a year earlier, according to the report on the national settlement presented by the Ministry of Finance and Economy. Of the total, central government debt rose 127 trillion won to 1,268.1 trillion won, while local government debt stood at 36.4 trillion won. The ministry said the debt-to-GDP ratio stood at 49 percent, up from 46 percent a year earlier but below the record high of 50.4 percent set in 2023. "There may be concerns about the absolute size of the national debt, but the economy faced simultaneous internal and external shocks last year, including weakened domestic demand due to the impact of the emergency martial law and rapidly changing global trade conditions," Hwang Soon-kywan, a senior ministry official, told reporters
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