The nation's foreign reserves reached a new high of 199.2 billion U.S. dollars in mid-January, backed by increased investment profits.

The Bank of Korea said in a report Tuesday that the country's foreign reserves, as of Jan. 15, were up 175 million dollars from the end of December.

The central bank was quick to add, however, that the gain was far lower than the 3.1 billion dollar surge recorded between last Dec. 15th and 31st.

The bank said that despite increased investment profits, the growth of foreign reserves slowed due to a fall in the dollar value of euro-denominated assets.

In November, South Korea's foreign reserves surged by a record 14.2 billion dollars as the country's foreign exchange authorities bought huge amounts of dollars from the market to curb the won's rapid appreciation.