Bailout of Financial Firms Is Put at 137 Trillion Won

The government said Thursday that a total of 137.1 trillion won ($105 billion) in public funds has been provided to bail out troubled financial institutions as of the end of April. Of that amount, 24.1 percent, or 33.1 trillion won, has been recovered, it said.

In the report to the National Assembly, the Ministry of Finance and Economy's Public Fund Oversight Committee said that 21.8 trillion won of the funds recovered was through the sale of uncollectible obligations it has taken over.

The committee is headed by Deputy Prime Minister Jin Nyum and is composed of four other government officials and five private sector representatives.

The panel said that 8.6 trillion won was recovered by auctions of bankrupt borrowers' assets, and another 2.7 trillion won was recovered through the sale of securities held by the financial firms.

The Financial Supervisory Commission, whose head serves on the oversight committee, has brought nearly 1,200 current and former officials of the financial firms for criminal prosecution, the panel said.

It also said that the Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. has brought civil claims against 2,100 officials asking combined damages of 646.2 billion won. In the cases concluded so far, the insurance corporation was awarded 80 percent of the amount claimed, or 87 billion won, it said.

by Song Sang-hoon