(South Korea) – The South Korean government spent 1.36 trillion won (US$1.17 billion) in public funds to recapitalise financial institutions in December, more than twice the amount spent in November.The country’s Ministry of Finance and Economy says the funds were spent through the Korea Deposit Insurance Corp and Korea Asset Management Corp to bail out financial companies and pay their depositors.
The Government also recovered almost US$1.6 billion in December on funds it had earlier spent on financial restructuring. These funds came from assets sales and debt collections.
Korea has pumped around US$123 billion in public funds into its financial system since the 1997 regional crisis, and the Government has so far recovered around US$40 billion.