Suppliers to ask court to liquidate Ssangyong Motor

SEOUL, July 13 (Yonhap) -- A group of parts suppliers for Ssangyong Motor Co.
said Monday they will ask a bankruptcy court to liquidate the automaker unless
striking workers end their action by the end of July.

Production at Ssangyong, which has been under bankruptcy protection since
February, has been halted since May 21 as some 1,000 laid off workers have been
occupying the company's only assembly plant to protest a massive job-cut plan.
"Unless operations return to normal by the end of this month, we will call for a
bankruptcy judge to deem the company insolvent," said Choi Byung-hoon, head of
the group that comprises some 600 suppliers for Ssangyong.
Choi said most of the suppliers were put at risk of collapse due to the prolonged
strike.
The prospects for Ssangyong's survival darkened further last week as the
bankruptcy court ordered an accounting firm to reassess the company's viability.
Lee Yoo-il, one of two court-appointed managers at Ssangyong, said accounting
firm Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers will reassess how much the strike has harmed
the carmaker's value as an ongoing entity.
In May, Samil concluded that Ssangyong was worth saving instead of liquidating in
order to recoup debts. If the new study suggests that the value of liquidating
Ssangyong exceeds that of maintaining the automaker, the company will be
insolvent, Lee said.
In the first six months of this year, Ssangyong's auto sales plunged 73.9 percent
from the same period last year to 13,020 units.
(END)