The United States and the European Union have called for South Korea to stop financial support for ailing Hynix Semiconductor.
The call came Wednesday at a meeting of the Subsidies and Countervailing Measures committee of the World Trade Organization held in Geneva.
U.S. and EU officials claimed that continued support for Hynix from Korea's state-controlled creditors had led to severe trade distortions in the memory chip sector ... already reeling from a record slump.
The demand came on the same day after Hynix creditors agreed to a seven-billion-dollar rescue package ... the latest in a series of bailouts to keep the world's third largest memory chipmaker afloat.
The U.S. and EU officials also threatened to bring the case to other WTO forums. That could open the way to an eventual WTO suit if South Korea refuses to drop its support for Hynix.
Micron Technology of the United States and Infineon Technologies of Germany have lobbied governments intensively to pressure Seoul to drop its support for Hynix. Japanese chipmakers have earlier warned of possible anti-dumping suits against Korean manufacturers.