Household Debt Hits Record High in March

Household debt in Korea at the end of March this year reached a record high of 640 trillion won, the Bank of Korea said yesterday.

Based on estimates by the National Statistical Office on 16,673,162 households nationwide, each household had an average of 38.41 million won in debt.

According to the bank’s report on household credit in this year’s first quarter, household debt including financial loans and credit card use reached 640.4724 trillion won in March, up 9.7938 trillion won or 1.6 percent from 630.6786 trillion won at the end of last year.

The bank blamed the rise in debt to growing demand for “jeonse,” or a large deposit used to lease a house for one or two years without monthly rent, in areas north of the Han River.

jarrett@donga.com