Assemblyman Shin Jeong-hoon: "MB Government's Overseas Resource Development Failure Debt 6.6517 Trillion Won"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] It has been pointed out that a more definite countermeasure is needed as the debt resulting from the MB government's failure in overseas resource development has reached trillions of won, making business normalization impossible through self-help measures alone.

On the 20th, Representative Shin Jeong-hoon (Jeonnam Naju-Hwasun, Democratic Party of Korea, Industry, Trade, and Small and Medium Venture Business Committee) analyzed data submitted by Korea Resources Corporation and found that the debt ratio soared from 85.4% in 2008 to 6905% in 2015, and since then, it has been in a state of capital erosion, making calculation impossible.

As of June, the debt amounts to a staggering 6.6517 trillion won, and the total interest paid from 2008 to this year is 1.0535 trillion won.

Looking at the status of Korea Resources Corporation's overseas investment projects from 2008 to June this year, a total of 2.9982 billion USD was invested, but only 461.1 million USD was recovered, resulting in a recovery rate of just 15.4% compared to the investment amount. Additionally, out of 22 projects entered, 12 projects had no recovery at all.

Specifically, the projects with no recovery were Niger Tegida (uranium), Canada Capstone (copper), Chile Santo Domingo (copper, iron), South Africa Zandkopsdrift (rare earths), Tanzania Mkuju (uranium), Peru Seleniden (copper), Indonesia Kintap (thermal coal), Australia White Cliffs (nickel), Australia Bolia (zinc, copper), Australia Mary (uranium), China Poduyingshin (rare earths), and Laos Huaphan (lead, zinc).

Analyzing by major projects, the Mexico Boleo project, which incurred the largest expenditure, invested 1.5442 billion USD during the same period but recovered only 181.1 million USD, showing a recovery rate of 11.7%.

Next, the Panama Cobre Panama project invested 759.9 million USD and recovered 127 million USD (16.7%), while the Chile Santo Domingo project invested 239.3 million USD but failed to recover any amount.

The total asset impairment due to overseas investment projects amounts to approximately 2.2885 billion USD.

Meanwhile, Korea Resources Corporation's interest expenses are expected to reach 172.1 billion won in 2020, 149.7 billion won in 2021, 110.6 billion won in 2022, 80.8 billion won in 2023, and 84.2 billion won in 2024.

Representative Shin Jeong-hoon expressed concern, saying, “It is absolutely impossible to normalize management through self-help efforts alone. It is also difficult to optimistically expect that the sale of assets, which have already been marked as failures, will proceed positively. If the current situation continues, in the worst case, only the corporation will be integrated, no one will take responsibility for the remaining debt, and the integrated institution will become insolvent due to continuous interest burdens.”

He added, “Instead of preparing a ‘first integration, then restructuring and government support plan for remaining debt,’ it is necessary to firmly establish a ‘first restructuring and government support plan for remaining debt,’ and after the government forms a national consensus on the necessity and role of Korea Resources Corporation, it should discuss expanding the scale of investment.”

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