State-controlled corporations remain laden with heavy debts despite their struggle to improve financial statements under the incumbent administration’s overhaul initiative, data from the Ministry of Finance showed Tuesday.

Korea’s 30 major public corporations saw their collective debt come to 373.6 trillion won ($320.1 billion) as of June 30 this year, which is higher than the 371.7 trillion won on June 30, 2014 and 371 trillion won on June 30, 2013.

Debt in the public sector has continued to surge ― 305 trillion won in the first half of 2011, and to 339.7 trillion won in the first half of 2012 ― after posting 292 trillion won in the second half of 2010.

The Korea Land & Housing Corp. topped the list with debt of 136 trillion won as of June 30, 2015.

Korea Electric Power Corp. was ranked second with its debt, the total of which includes that of its subsidiaries, reaching 113 trillion won, followed by Korea Gas Corp. with 31.6 trillion won, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Corp. with 27.5 trillion won and Korea Expressway Corp. with 26.3 trillion won.

The Incheon International Airport Corp. posted a 13.5 percent increase in debt from 2.4 trillion won in June 2014 to 2.8 trillion won in June 2015. The Korea Racing Authority saw its debt climb by 10.1 percent from 282 billion won to 314 billion won over the corresponding period.

Combined debt held by the public sector has snowballed over the past few years, as some firms were found to have maintained poor management practices, such as reckless borrowing, irresponsible overseas projects and excessive incentives for executives.

The 30 firms, however, were successful in curbing the ratio of debt to equity. Their combined debt-to-equity ratio fell to 201 percent as of June, compared with 210 percent a year earlier and 217 percent two years earlier.

Last year, President Park Geun-hye said that her drive to reform public organizations would focus not only on reducing their debts and ending lax management, but also overhauling their duties to help them focus on core responsibilities.

“Besides debt reduction and (ending) lax management, we have to focus on increasing productivity,” she said. “We have to carry out an all-out review of the functions of public institutions in phases and get them to focus on core duties.”

Park also said that public corporations should sell off their assets to repay debts if necessary, and asked officials to make sure that those assets are sold for the right price, as they are public property purchased with taxpayer money.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)