Gov't reviews support for workers of troubled supermarket chain Homeplus

Workers of the troubled supermarket chain Homeplus speak at a press conference in Daegu, Friday. Yonhap

The government has reviewed the progress in rolling out supportive measures for workers of the troubled supermarket chain Homeplus after a court decided to terminate its rehabilitation proceedings, the finance ministry said Friday.

First Vice Finance Minister Lee Hyoung-il chaired a task force meeting to review the progress in implementing support measures for affected workers and subcontractors after vowing last week to provide up to 21 million won ($13,980) in substitute payments for unpaid wages.

The government said the labor ministry received 692 inquiries and provided information on available support programs.

The task force also identified 33.3 billion won in unpaid wages for June and vowed to closely monitor any additional delays in wage payments.

Last week, Korea also offered low-interest loans of up to 10 million won at a rate of 1.5 percent within the amount of their unpaid salaries.

During the meeting, the participants vowed to continue closely monitoring damage suffered by workers and business partners affected by the termination of Homeplus' rehabilitation proceedings and to come up with additional measures when necessary.

Last week, the Seoul Bankruptcy Court decided to terminate the rehabilitation proceedings for Homeplus, a retailer wholly owned by private equity firm MBK Partners, after the supermarket chain entered the court-led debt restructuring process in March last year.