Recent data shows that about a third of bailout funds provided by public institutions since 1997 to rescue distressed debt-ridden firms remain unpaid.

According to the Financial Services Commission(FSC), the government has amassed 168-point-seven trillion won, or about 142-point-six billion U.S. dollars, as of March this year in bailout funds since the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

The government retrieved about 111-point-six trillion won as of March this year, or about 66-point-two percent of bailout funds, a figure that remains unchanged since late last year.

In the first three months of this year, the government retrieved about 34-point-five billion won worth of funds. The Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation(KDIC) earned about 23-point-eight billion won in dividends from shares of Hanwha Life and also collected about ten-point-six billion won in interest from loans to KR&C, a subsidiary.

At present, the KDIC has 110-point-nine trillion won in extended loans. The Korea Asset Management Corporation(KAMCO) has about 38-point-five trillion won while the government has about 18-point-four trillion won and the Bank of Korea has about 900 billion won in unretrieved loans.