Defaults in health insurance premium payments hit a record high in South Korea this year.

According to data released by the National Health Insurance Service(NHIS) on Monday, non-payment of health insurance premiums reached 188 billion won this year, tripling over the past five years. The number of unpaid cases this year also reached a record high of 361-thousand.

The figure has steadily increased from 59-point-nine billion won in 2012, 65-point-three billion won in 2014 and 103 billion in 2016, topping the 100-billion won mark for the first time. This year, the number approached 200 billion won.

Amid the prolonged slowdown in the shipbuilding industry, bankruptcy was the most common reason for the defaults with the amount reaching 121 billion won from 16-thousand cases.