Foreign debt stood at 649.3 billion U.S. dollars at the end of September, down 15.7 billion dollars from three months earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
Short-term foreign debt with a maturity of less than one year declined 20.3 billion dollars to 141.6 billion dollars in the July-September quarter, but long-term external liability gained 4.6 billion dollars to 507.7 billion dollars.
The ratio of short-term foreign debt to the total external liability retreated 2.5 percentage points from three months earlier to 21.8 percent at the end of September.
It marked the lowest since relevant data began to be compiled in 1994.
The ratio of short-term foreign debt to foreign reserves slipped 4.2 percentage points to 34.2 percent.
Net external credit, or external credit minus foreign debt, shed 1.1 billion dollars to 352.7 billion dollars in the third quarter.
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