National debt tops W1,200tr

The Finance Ministry said Friday that the country’s total national debt surpassed 1,200 trillion won ($1.1 trillion) last year, reigniting controversy over the country’s debt management.

In the ministry’s fiscal report of 2014 submitted to the National Assembly, the country’s gross national debt last year stood at 1,212.7 trillion won, up 94.8 trillion won from a year ago.

The report came about six weeks after the Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea ordered a revision of the initial report, which was released April 10. According to the report, the Finance Ministry added 1.5 trillion won to the national debt and 2.3 trillion won to government assets.

“The increase came mostly from spending on the military and civil servants’ pensions and from treasury bonds (government fiscal expansionary policies),” the ministry said.

Meanwhile, total government assets jumped 90.5 trillion won to 1,756.8 trillion won last year, with the government’s net worth reaching 544.1 trillion won.

Total tax revenue stood at 298.7 trillion won, slightly over the tax expenditures of 291.5 trillion won.

The fiscal report has yet to be approved by the National Assembly. The parliamentary regular session begins Sept. 1.

By Chung Joo-won (joowonc@heraldcorp.com)