Talks are underway between the government and Hanwha Group over the sale of Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Company(DSME). 

According to sources within the government and the financial sector, officials from the ministries of finance and industry were joined by the Financial Services Commission(FSC) in a meeting Monday morning to discuss selling the shipbuilder to the country's seventh-largest conglomerate.

Chairman Kang Seog-hoon of the state-run Korea Development Bank(KDB), which is DSME's biggest shareholder, reported the bank's plan to dispose of its stake and sell the company to the defense industry giant.

Should officials at the meeting decide on the disposal, the KDB is expected to call an emergency board meeting later in the day to approve the plan.

Earlier this month, Kang said the state lender is seeking to accelerate the disposal of DSME as a means of salvaging the once-troubled shipyard under new management that could enhance its efficiency and competitiveness.

In 2015, the KDB and other creditors injected about four trillion won into DSME as it teetered on the brink of bankruptcy.