Seoul: The South Korean government has successfully retrieved over 72 percent of the public funds utilized to bail out financial firms during the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis, as stated by the financial regulator.

According to Yonhap News Agency, by the end of December, the government had recovered 72.5 percent, equivalent to 122.1 trillion won (US$83.4 billion), of the total 168.7 trillion won in bailout funds. This marks a 0.5 percentage point increase from the previous year, based on the data provided by the Financial Services Commission (FSC).