Some of the shuttered savings banks heavily invested in the property sector in Cambodia between 2006 and 2007.

Cambodia accounts for about 76 percent of total overseas assets worth 637.7 billion won ($562.3 million) that had been owned by bankrupt financial institutions and purchased by the KDIC, which aims to protect depositors.

KDIC plans to open the office in Cambodia on March 9, marking its first overseas branch office.

Efforts to recover the assets by shuttered savings banks in Cambodia have made little progress because most real estate projects are linked to the Cambodian government.

However, the possibility of retrieving the assets has risen as the property sector in Cambodia is booming.

The World Bank predicted that Cambodia's economy would grow at an annual growth rate of 7 percent by 2019.

"After setting up the office, we expect to speed up the process of recovering the assets by strengthening cooperation with relevant authorities," a KDIC official said.

The KDIC has injected a total of 27.1 trillion won to bail out troubled savings banks since 2011.

As of the end of last year, it retrieved 10.2 trillion won of funds. (Yonhap)