The Unification Ministry says it is premature to decide whether new loans for companies operating at the Gaeseong Industrial Park will be needed.

A ministry official says that although the industrial park's companies are experiencing financial hardship, operating loans are not handouts from the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund. The official added there is a difference between what the companies need and what they apply for.

In November 2009, the ministry decided to provide six billion won in loans from the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund to 20 companies at the Gaeseong Industrial Park that were financially strained due to the deterioration of inter-Korean relations. However, only nine companies applied for funding amounting to one-point-seven billion won.

The association of companies operating at the complex held an emergency board meeting on Thursday and decided to apply for more loans, as well as for the deferred repayment of loans they had already received. The requests were made to minimize losses from sanctions that followed North Korea’s torpedo attack on a South Korean naval warship.