The head of South Korea's recently-launched debt restructuring fund said Sunday that it will buy debts held by financial companies just one time, shrugging off worries that repeated help could lead to moral hazards among delinquent borrowers, the Global Post reported on a Yonhap News Agency story. On Friday, the government launched the National Happiness Fund in order to buy debts held by local financial companies, a move aimed at pushing for debt write-offs or debt rescheduling for delinquent borrowers.

Lotte Tour Co., a South Korean tour operator, said Monday it has filed for court receivership as part of its efforts to get back on its feet following the default of a company in which Lotte has a stake, the Yonhap News Agency reported. Lotte Tour said in a regulatory filing that the Seoul Central District Court is scheduled to decide whether to approve its request, though it did not give any specific time frame. Court officials were not immediately reached for comment.

For new South Korean President Park Geun-hye, who in her inauguration speech promised a fairer society, one of the biggest challenges will be to tackle a growing income gap that has seen almost one in two elderly South Koreans slip back into poverty, The Wall Street Journal reported. Ms. Park in her speech on Monday alluded to tougher economic times ahead, talking about a new chapter in the economic miracle that lifted many South Koreans out of poverty in the decades of breakneck growth after the Korean War—but deepened inequalities.

Park Geun-hye took office as South Korea’s first female president on Monday promising to provide a fairer distribution of wealth for the people whose “blood, toil and sweat” formed the foundation of the nation’s prosperity, the Financial Times reported. Speaking before about 70,000 people outside parliament, the daughter of former military dictator Park Chung-hee said she would “open a new era of hope” to allow all citizens “to enjoy the benefits of economic development”.

Korean total household debt rose to a record 937.5 trillion won in the third quarter, undermining Park Geun Hye’s election promise to expand the middle class after she takes over the presidency next week. The debt reached 164 percent of disposable income in 2011, compared with 138 percent in the U.S. at the start of the housing crisis, according to Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Bloomberg reported.

The uncertain global economy isn’t the only hurdle for SsangYong Motor to clear this year. South Korean politicians are putting up another, The Wall Street Journal Korea Real Time blog reported. Some lawmakers from opposition parties want the National Assembly to look into a possible accounting fraud by Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., or SAIC, the previous owner of Ssangyong, which is South Korea’s fourth-biggest car maker by output.

Applications for reverse mortgages, which are typically taken out by elderly or retired homeowners who borrow money in the form of monthly payments against the equity in their homes, are surging to the highest in six years. Loans backed by state- run financing firm Korea Housing Finance Corp. jumped 71 percent in 2012 as retirees like Kim sought a steady income in a nation wracked by personal debt, falling home values and a rapidly aging population, Bloomberg reported.

Daewoo Electronics Corp. is finally getting a new owner – more than a decade after the collapse of its mother conglomerate that was the most storied business failure in the country’s history, The Wall Street Journal Korea Real Time blog reported. Dongbu Group, considered a mid-sized chaebol because it operates in seven businesses and has about 40,000 employees, picked up a 51% stake in Daewoo Electronics for 276 billion won, or about $256 million. It beat out another Korean firm, Samla Midas Group, and Sweden’s Electrolux AB for the stake.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc won dismissal of a lawsuit filed by Seoul-based Woori Bank over losses from investments in collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) tied to the housing market, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. A federal judge in New York ruled yesterday that the South Korean lender failed to present a strong enough case against RBS. Woori Bank had alleged that it was duped into investing $80 million in CDOs that were exposed to risk from the subprime housing market, according to the order filed today by U.S. District Judge Harold Baer.

Korea’s total debt, combining those in private and public sectors, has reached 3 quadrillion won (about $2.75 trillion) in the second quarter, fanning worries that the country is increasingly exposed to a credit crisis, The Korea Times reported. According to the Bank of Korea (BOK) and the financial industry, the nation’s total debt stood at 2.96 quadrillion won in June, accounting for 233.8 percent of its nominal gross domestic product (GDP). The combined debt increased by 103 trillion won, or 3.6 percent for six months since December.