[2020 National Audit] "Foreign Companies in Industrial Complexes Owe 8.8 Billion KRW in Rent"

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] It has been revealed that some foreign-invested companies operating in domestic industrial complexes have failed to pay rent amounting to approximately 8.8 billion KRW on time.

According to data on 'Unpaid Rent Status of Foreign-Invested Companies' submitted by the Korea Industrial Complex Corporation to Lee Joo-hwan, a member of the National Assembly's Industry, Trade, Energy, Small and Medium Enterprises Committee from the People Power Party, as of the end of last year, 25 out of 163 foreign-invested companies (15%) managed by the Industrial Complex Corporation had not paid a total of 8.78 billion KRW in rent.

Among these 25 companies, 21 had long-term rent arrears exceeding one year. The total unpaid rent from these foreign-invested companies was found to be 8.54 billion KRW.

The total rental deposit from the foreign-invested companies that failed to pay rent amounts to only 1.4 billion KRW. Even if offset by the rental deposits, it means that 7.3 billion KRW cannot be recovered.

The Industrial Complex Corporation has taken legal measures such as regular payment reminders, provisional seizure, payment orders, and credit investigations. However, it has been identified that there are practical limits to recovering unpaid amounts from simply overdue or bankrupt companies, as most of the unpaid amounts are secured by first-priority mortgages held by financial institutions.

Earlier, on the 9th of last month, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held a Foreign Investment Committee meeting and decided to increase cash support for foreign-invested companies from 30% to 40% and rent support from 50% to 75%.

While creating a favorable environment for advanced industry foreign-invested companies is desirable, Lee pointed out that it is a significant problem that foreign-invested companies are still in arrears despite receiving rent-related benefits.

Lee said, "Foreign-invested companies should fulfill their responsibilities and obligations in proportion to the rent benefits they receive," adding, "The Industrial Complex Corporation must make every effort to recover unpaid rent from foreign-invested companies."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.