Homeplus "110 Billion KRW Unpaid in Retirement Pension Due to Short-Term Liquidity Issues"

"Current Accumulation Rate at 83%... No Issues with Retirement Benefit Payments"
"Reflected in Rehabilitation Plan, Unpaid Amounts to Be Prioritized"

Homeplus announced on the 4th that due to short-term liquidity issues following the commencement of corporate rehabilitation proceedings, it has failed to pay 110 billion KRW in external retirement pension reserves, including those due in 2025, but plans to prioritize these in the rehabilitation plan and accumulate them without any setbacks.

A citizen is walking in front of a Homeplus store in Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

According to Homeplus on the day, the company manages retirement pension reserves by distributing them across 15 financial institutions. While all contributions up to last year were fully paid, after entering corporate rehabilitation proceedings on the 4th of last month, it failed to pay a total of 110 billion KRW, including 54 billion KRW in reserves due this year and an additional 56 billion KRW in reserves arising from a Supreme Court ruling last December that changed the standard for ordinary wages.

Homeplus explained, "With the start of the corporate rehabilitation process, short-term liquidity constraints arose, and unpaid amounts occurred as trade receivables were prioritized for payment to continue business operations." They added, "By February next year, we plan to first pay 36.7 billion KRW, which is one-third of the unpaid reserves, and also prioritize payment of the remaining unpaid amounts and additional contributions for 2025 due to the ordinary wage ruling, all reflected in the rehabilitation plan."

Homeplus stated that the current accumulation rate of retirement pension reserves is around 83%. A Homeplus representative said, "Under normal circumstances, an external reserve accumulation rate of 83% poses no problem for retirement benefit payments," but also added, "We apologize for causing unnecessary concern among employees regarding the retirement pension due to the company's situation."

They further stated, "Considering that employees are anxious due to the company entering rehabilitation proceedings, we plan to accumulate all unpaid reserves without any issues and alleviate employees' concerns," and added, "Since employees' salaries and retirement benefits are the highest priority for repayment, they will be paid in full without any problems."