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Korea's two largest federations representing the business and policy interests of individuals and enterprises in the agriculture and livestock industries have suffered over 100 billion won ($74.49 million) in damages due to financial crimes over the past five years, according to data, Tuesday.

Data released by Rep. Jung Hee-yong of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) revealed that the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation and the National Livestock Cooperatives Federation reported a combined total of 280 cases of embezzlement, fraud, and other financial crimes from 2019 to August this year.

Compiled by the two federations, the data also showed that the total damage caused by these crimes amounted to 111.9 billion won over the cited period.

What made the situation worse was that the federations had only recovered 18.8 billion won, or 17 percent of the total damage amount, according to the lawmaker.

The finding emerged amid a surge in financial crimes at banks and other financial institutions, raising concerns about lax regulatory oversight.

Of the 111.9 billion won in total damage, 43.6 billion won was reported in 2022, 19 billion won in 2023, and an additional 7.5 billion won during the January-August period of this year.

Among the 280 crimes, embezzlement accounted for 27 percent, unauthorized lending 20 percent, illegal access to personal information 13 percent, and fraud 9 percent.

By region, the damaged inflicted on the federations was largest in South Gyeongsang Province, totaling 31.2 billion won.

Gyeonggi Province accounted for another 27.2 billion won, while South Chungcheong Province took up 18.8 billion won and South Jeolla Province made up 6.8 billion won.

The damage in Gwangju totaled 5.7 billion won, in Seoul 5.1 billion won, and in South Gyeongsang Province 5 billion won.

“The federations should work to improve the rate of damage recovery and take stringent measures against those responsible,” the legislator said.