SEOUL, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's foreign debt soared in the third quarter due to higher debt in both short and long terms, central bank data showed Wednesday.

Foreign debt increased 44.4 billion U.S. dollars to 702.7 billion dollars during the July-September quarter after reducing 5.0 billion dollars in the first quarter and 9.2 billion dollars in the second quarter, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

Short-term foreign debt with maturity of less than one year gained 16.8 billion dollars to 158.7 billion dollars in the third quarter, while long-term external liability expanded 27.6 billion dollars to 544.0 billion dollars.

The ratio of short-term foreign debt to the total external liability increased 1.0 percentage point from three months earlier to 22.6 percent at the end of September.

The ratio of short-term foreign debt to foreign reserves advanced 3.4 percentage points to 37.8 percent.

Net external credit, or external credit minus foreign debt, amounted to 378.0 billion dollars at the end of September, down 3.4 billion dollars from three months earlier. Enditem

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