Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (K-sure) has come under criticism for taking on fiscal risk with aggressive programs, including more than 3 trillion won in liquidity support for small and midsize exporting corporations in just half a year, as part of its response to U.S. tariff measures. K-sure formed an emergency support task force (TF) for U.S. tariff response in Apr., and has since increased liquidity support funds for exporting corporations. In Apr. alone, it provided 700 billion won. But as of the end of last year, accounts receivable stood at 5.5582 trillion won.
According to materials from Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (K-sure) obtained by Rep. Park Sang-ung of the People Power Party, a member of the Trade. Industry Energy. SMEs. and Startups Committee, on the 16th, K-sure's liquidity support for small and midsize exporting corporations reached 3.3327 trillion won in the first six months of this year.
The "liquidity support program for small and midsize exporting corporations" is a system in which K-sure provides guarantees when small and midsize corporations take out bank loans for export funds, easing their financial burden.
Since the U.S. tariff emergency support TF at K-sure was formed in Apr., monthly support amounts were ▲ Apr. 710.1 billion won ▲ May 667.2 billion won ▲ Jun. 697 billion won ▲ Jul. 397.4 billion won ▲ Aug. 420.6 billion won ▲ Sep. 440.3 billion won, for a total of 3.3327 trillion won. That is 139.7 billion won more than the 3.193 trillion won provided during the same period last year (Apr.–Sep.).
If this trend continues, K-sure's budget for responding to U.S. tariffs could expand to tens of trillions of won.
In fact, as of the end of 2024, K-sure's domestic claims generated totaled 6.9115 trillion won. Of that, only 1.3533 trillion won has been recovered, leaving 5.5582 trillion won in accounts receivable yet to be collected.
Rep. Park Sang-ung said, "The Trade Insurance Corporation is taking on excessive fiscal risk on the grounds of responding to U.S. tariffs," and noted, "We must immediately embark on effective institutional improvements to fundamentally resolve the recurring unrecovered funds issue." Park also said, "Because of the Lee Jae-myung administration's inadequate response in the Korea-U.S. tariff negotiations, our corporations are being harmed."
Meanwhile, in Aug., Minister Kim Jung-kwan of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said on Facebook that "the Korea-U.S. tariff negotiations have been concluded." However, as the U.S. side refused to agree to the deal on the grounds of fulfilling $350 billion in U.S.-bound investment, damage to domestic exporting corporations continues to grow.