Korea has recovered less than 70 percent of the public funds spent since the 1997 Asian financial crisis to bail out ailing firms, government data showed Tuesday.

From November 1997 to December 2015, the government extended a total of 168.7 trillion won ($145 billion) in public funds to financially troubled companies hit by the 1997 and the 2008 financial crises, the Financial Services Commission said in a statement.  

As of Dec. 31, the government had retrieved an accumulated 111.6 trillion won, or 66.2 percent, of the extended loans in return for a full-scale restructuring.  "The restructuring in some companies is still under way. Worse still, the business environments remain very unfavorable for a lot of the companies due to the lingering impact of the 2008 financial crisis on major industries," an FSC official said.

The FSC expected the public funds will be fully collected by 2027. (Yonhap)