South Korea has recouped 60.2 percent of the public funds used to bail out troubled financial companies during the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis, the financial watchdog said Friday.

   The country had retrieved 101.5 trillion won (US$95.1 billion) out of a total of 168.6 trillion won in public funds as of the end of May, according to the Financial Services Commission (FSC).

   The recovery rate was up from 59.9 percent as of the end of last year, it added.

   The South Korean government injected massive amounts of public funds into local financial institutions to salvage them from bankruptcy when the financial crisis broke out in late 2007.

Source: Yonhap News (July 1, 2011)