Foreign reserves decreased for the third month in a row in January.

According to the Bank of Korea(BOK) on Monday, the nation's foreign currency reserves stood at 461-point-five billion U.S. dollars as of the end of last month, down by one-point-59 billion dollars from a month earlier.

Foreign reserves declined for three straight months after posting a record high of 469-point-two billion dollars in October last year.

The central bank said the reserves declined due to a fall in the value of non-dollar assets when converted into the American currency, as well as a drop in foreign currency deposits at financial institutions.

As of the end of December, South Korea was the world's eighth largest holder of foreign exchange reserves. China topped the list at three-point-25 trillion dollars, followed by Japan at one-point-46 trillion dollars and Switzerland at one-point-11 trillion dollars.