South Korea's foreign reserves rose nearly seven billion dollars in December, posting growth for the ninth straight month.

According to the Bank of Korea(BOK) on Wednesday, the nation's foreign currency reserves came to a record high of 443-point-one billion U.S. dollars as of the end of last month, up six-point-72 billion dollars from a month earlier.

The country's foreign exchange reserves grew for nine straight months since April of last year, and has hit a fresh high for seven consecutive months since June.     

The central bank said the rise in December is attributed to increased returns on its foreign-currency assets and the U.S. dollar's weakness that drove up the value of other currencies when converted into the greenback. 

South Korea retained its position as the world's ninth-largest holder of foreign exchange reserves at the end of November, with China topping the list, followed by Japan and Switzerland.