Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon unveiled on Monday plans to curb the nation’s household debt.
 
During a meeting between government officials and ruling party lawmakers at the National Assembly, Kim vowed to implement a new debt-to-income ratio(DTI) from January and introduce a debt service ratio(DSR) from the latter half of 2018.
 
Kim, who concurrently serves as deputy prime minister, noted that the measures mainly aim to accurately determine debtors’ capacity to pay off their debts.
 
He said that though there is little possibility that household debt will immediately become a financial risk, swift, preemptive responses are required as its size is significant compared to the nation’s gross domestic product.
 
The new DTI system aims to tighten sources of money for multiple homeowners. The DSR measures how much of a family's disposable income must be devoted to servicing their loan obligations. The government initially planned to introduce the DSR in 2019 but decided to move it up to the second half of 2018. 
 
The government will unveil a comprehensive set of measures to tackle household debt on Tuesday, based on the results of its meeting with the ruling party.