Govt. recoups W709.1b of public funds in Q2

The South Korean government said Monday it recovered 709.1 billion won ($633 million) of bailout funds in the second quarter, mostly used to help financial institutions hit by the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

The retrieval of taxpayers' money mainly derived from dividends from stake investments, the sale of shares in Woori Bank, and interest income, the Financial Services Commission said in a statement.

The government has spent a total of 168.7 trillion won since November 1997 to purchase non-performing loans and assets of financial firms under restructuring following the crisis. The move was to cushion the impact on Asia's fourth-largest economy from the global financial meltdown.

It recovered an accumulated 115.2 trillion won, or 68.3 percent of total expenditures, as of the end of June, the FSC said. (Yonhap)