For the first time in five years, the government has begun recovering special loans it granted to companies engaged in inter-Korean economic projects that were hit hard by Seoul’s May 24 economic sanctions against North Korea.
 
The sanctions were imposed in 2010 in the wake of the North’s sinking of the South’s Cheonan naval corvette.
 
Unification Ministry Spokesman Jeong Joon-hee told reporters on Wednesday that the government decided to withdraw some of the special loans set to mature this year. He said the move was part of efforts to enhance the soundness of the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund.
 
The Export-Import Bank of Korea, which manages the cooperation fund, recently sent out letters to 149 out of 168 companies that received special loans, asking them to repay five percent of a principal of 32-and-a-half billion won.
 
The bank, however, said that it extended the maturity of loans without principal repayment for 15 companies that invested in Mount Geumgang and four companies that invested in the North’s inland areas, excluding the Gaeseong Industrial Complex and the mountain resort.
 
In 2010 and 2012, the government granted to 221 companies special loans worth 56 billion won that have an annual interest of two percent from the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund and granted special loans last year.