The delinquency rate of loans extended by South Korean banks rose in April from a month earlier due to a rise in fresh bad loans, the financial watchdog said Wednesday.

The average delinquency rate of bank loans stood at 0.76 percent at the end of April, up 0.07 percentage point from a month earlier, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.

From a year earlier, the figure dropped 0.15 percentage point from 0.91 percent, it added.

Loans with both the principal and interest overdue by one month or more are considered delinquent.

Over the cited period, 2 trillion won ($1.8 billion) worth of loans turned sour, with 1 trillion won of debts written off, the FSS said.

The overdue rates of corporate debt gained 0.11 percentage point to 0.97 percent in April from a month earlier, with those for household loans climbing 0.02 percentage point to 0.5 percent.

The outstanding amount of won-denominated loans stood at

1,293.2 trillion won as of end-April, up 15 trillion won, or 1.2 percent, from the previous month. Those extended to households reached 534.9 trillion won, up 8.8 trillion won over the cited period, while corporate loans rose 6.4 trillion won to 727.2 trillion won. (Yonhap)