Gov’t to provide over 560 bln won of liquidity for TMON, WeMakePrice incident

The government has decided to extend at least 560 billion won (US$445.07 million) of funds to support small vendors suffering from payment delays by the e-commerce platforms TMON and WeMakePrice, the finance ministry said Monday. The two South Korean marketplaces have been in a crisis after failing to make payments to their vendors amid liquidity issues by their owner, Singapore-based Qoo10, reportedly due to aggressive merger deals. During an emergency governmentwide task force meeting, the government decided to provide 200 billion won of funds from public institutions for small merchants and another 300 billion won of credit guarantee funds. An additional 60 billion won will be available for travel agencies hit particularly hard by the payment delays, according to the ministry. The government also presented a set of supportive measures for the sellers, which include the extension of tax payment deadlines and helping them find new business channels. Their unpaid bills came to around 210 billion won, an d the amount is feared to grow bigger. "The two companies must take responsibility for the payment failure," First Vice Finance Minister Kim Beom-seok said during the meeting. "But the government decided to extend support for customers and sellers to minimize the damage by mobilizing all possible resources." Source: Yonhap News Agency