Picking Over Hankook Carcass

The government said Tuesday that it plans to sort out the profitable projects among 65 construction works managed by the state-run Hankook Real Estate Trust Co. and set up a new asset trust firm to take them over. Hankook, a subsidiary of the government-controlled Korea Appraisal Board, went bankrupt in February.

Under the Construction Ministry's plan, the Korea Asset Management Corporation will invest 10 billion won ($7.4 million) to establish a realty trust company, and a consulting company, P&R, will conduct a due diligence on Hankook's construction projects. The results of the inspection will come at the end of this month.

The projects transferred to the new trust company will be guaranteed by the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund or the Korea Technology Credit Guarantee Fund. Unprofitable projects will be liquidated, inflicting losses on the parties involved.