Foreign holdings of domestic stocks push up Korea’s financial liabilities

A surge in Korean stocks boosted the value of local equities held by foreign investors, swelling the nation’s financial liabilities and pushing net financial assets lower for the first time in five years, data showed Wednesday. Net financial assets fell 20.4 percent to 1,271 trillion won ($858 billion) in 2025, a decline of 326 trillion won from a year earlier, according to the national balance sheet released by the Bank of Korea (BOK) and the Ministry of Data and Statistics. It was the biggest drop since the data series began in 2009. Net financial assets are calculated by subtracting financial liabilities, which include Korean equities held by foreign investors, from financial assets, which include overseas assets held by Korean residents. While financial assets rose by 2.79 quadrillion won, or 11.4 percent, to 27.318 quadrillion won, financial liabilities climbed by a larger 3.12 quadrillion won, or 13.6 percent, to 26.047 quadrillion won. “The won-denominated increase in the value of Korean equities held by foreign investors exceeded the increase in overseas equities held by Korean r

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