Twelve debt-ridden public organizations in South Korea have spent more than 300 billion won ($279.3 million) over the past five years on providing welfare benefits, including financial support for health and education, data showed Sunday.

According to the data offered by government information portal Alio, the most indebted public firms, which include LH Corp., Korea Electric Power Corp. and Korea Coal Corp., spent a combined 317.4 billion won from 2009 to 2013 on four major welfare benefits.

The welfare benefits refer to financial support for baby care and education for workers’ children, health, paid leave and expenditures for family occasions such as weddings and funerals.

The data came amid criticism that the country’s public organizations, including state-run enterprises, have been excessively generous to their workers in salaries and benefits despite their growing debt.

As of the end of 2012, the 12 held a combined 412 trillion won worth of debt, which accounted for 83.5 percent of the total debt owed by the country’s 295 public organizations.

This worsening debt problem prompted the government to push for a comprehensive public-sector reform, recently urging them to sell their non-core assets, reduce excessive benefits to workers and streamline their overall business structure. (Yonhap)