( Yonhap ) Companies listed on South Korea ’ s top - tier stock market Kospi saw their debt - to - capital ratio come to 111 . 4 percent in 2017 , up 0 . 9 percentage point on - year , data showed Monday . The combined amount of liabilities of Kospi - listed firms reached 1 , 182 . 8 trillion won ( $ 1 . 1 trillion ) , up 2 . 5 percent compared to a year prior , whereas the volume of capital came to 1 , 061 . 9 trillion won , up 1 . 7 percent , according to data compiled by the Korea Exchange . The market operator analyzed data on 598 firms out of 745 trading on the Kospi as of end - 2017 , excluding 101 financial firms and 46 firms whose corresponding data for the previous year were not available . Of all , firms with liabilities more than double the capital took up 14 . 9 percent , up 0 . 4 percentage point on - year , while firms whose capital was larger than debt accounted for 54 . 3 percent , down 1 . 6 percentage points . The tendency of indebtedness was the most visible among refiners of oil and briquettes , as well as real estate - related business entities , according to the KRX . By Son Ji - hyoung   ( consnow @ heraldcorp . com ) [ 코리아 헤럴드 ] [ K - POP HERALD ] [ 페이스북 ] <ⓒ KoreaHerald ( www . koreaherald . com ) 무단 전재 및 재 배포 금지 >