How to deal with the rise of zombie firms in Korea

Daehee Jeong examines the increase in Korea’s zombie firms, in the context of Japan’s experience of negative effects on employment, investment, productivity and overall dynamics of the economy. Korea’s delay in corporate-sector restructuring led to an increase in zombie firms, making zombie lending to distressed firms more severe in Korea than in most developed countries. The increase is attributed largely to maturity extensions by banks, rather than to interest exemption by general creditors. Korea’s zombie lending is driven not by insolvent commercial banks but by public banks. One remedy is thus to address their politically directed lending, which has increased exposure to large firms, and instead to restore their role in supporting sectors where the financial market fails, such as small and medium-size enterprises and newly established firms. In addition, the Financial Supervisory Service should ensure that standards for classifying bad loans are consistent across commercial and public banks.