Over 20-thousand pieces of previously unaccounted for Korean cultural relics have been found overseas.

The National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage said that it found a total of 140-thousand Korean cultural assets that are owned by individuals or organizations in 20 foreign countries during an investigation last year.

The figure is up 23-thousand from the 116-thousand relics located in previous investigations.

By country, Japan was the largest foreign holder of Korean cultural relics with 65-thousand. Thirty-eight-thousand Korean assets were found in the U.S. and ten-thousand in Germany.