Unionized workers at Kumho Tire Co. have accepted the company's restructuring measures, including a reduction in wages and bonuses, in the second round of a vote held Wednesday, the company said Thursday, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Under the agreement, Kumho Tire workers will have to accept a 10% basic salary cut for 2010 and an additional 5% cut before the company's exit from a debt-rescheduling program, which may take two to three years. The company withdrew its original plan to cut about 1,200 workers in return for union concessions on wages.

Swedish network equipment vendor L.M. Ericsson Telephone Co. has purchased Nortel Networks Corp.'s controlling stake in a South Korean joint venture for $242 million in cash, a move that should help boost its footprint in the Asian country, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Ericsson said Wednesday that it has bought Nortel's 50% plus one share stake in its joint venture with LG Electronics Inc., LG-Nortel. LG-Nortel will be renamed LG-Ericsson and will continue to have its headquarters in Seoul.

Shares of Kumho Industrial Co. will resume trading on the Seoul bourse Tuesday after a one day suspension amid market rumors that the financially embattled company may file for bankruptcy protection, the bourse operator said Monday, the Yonhap News Agency reported. "(Kumho Industrial) has not yet looked into applying for court management," the company said in a regulatory filing. The Korea Exchange called for the construction unit of Kumho Asiana Group to respond to the market speculation by 6:00 p.m. Monday, suspending its share trading before the stock market opened at 9:00 a.m.

China's pullback from stimulus efforts, which were geared toward grappling with the financial distress, is likely to affect Korea in deciding when to employ its own exit strategy, The Korea Times reported. China, Korea's largest trading partner, began to withdraw its expansionary policies this week with its central bank raising lenders' reserve requirement ratio by 50 basis points.

Troubled Ssangyong Motor avoided bankruptcy after a court approved its self-rescue plan despite opposition from overseas creditors. The ruling enables the cash-strapped automaker to get additional financing from investors, and take a series of steps to eventually stand on its own feet. Its ongoing negotiations for a possible sale is also expected to gain momentum. A Ssangyong spokesman told The Korea Times that it would select a candidate to take over the company by January and complete the deal by September.

GM Daewoo, which accounts for about a quarter of GM's global auto production, also represents one of the few remaining areas needing restructuring after the U.S. automaker exited bankruptcy in July with $50 billion in U.S. government funding. GM Chief Executive Fritz Henderson is in Seoul this week to discuss options for restructuring GM Daewoo with the South Korean government -- an increasingly important asset for the automaker.

The World Trade Organisation is expected to rule on Friday that billions of dollars in European government subsidies for Airbus aircraft are illegal, the Financial Times reported. That would hand victory to the US and Boeing, in the first round of a WTO dogfight between the world’s biggest aircraft manufacturers. The preliminary ruling, is likely to spur Washington to launch a WTO challenge to further government loans for Airbus to develop its new €11 billion ($16 billion, £10 billion) A350 extra wide-bodied airliner which will compete with Boeing’s long-delayed 787 Dreamliner.

Creditors filed for the liquidation of the troubled Ssangyong Motor with the Seoul Central District Court, Wednesday, a desperate move to put pressure on occupiers of a building at the company's plant amid growing fears that the occupation will soon threaten the survival of not only the automaker but also its suppliers, The Korea Times reported. Choi Myung-hoon, the spokesman for the creditors, said, "With the standoff continuing, more than 1,900 part suppliers are exposed to bankruptcy.

In pursuit of middle-class prosperity, South Koreans have looted their household savings like no other people on Earth, The Washington Post reported. They have collectively binged on private schools and fancy cars, language camps and new apartments, foreign travel and designer shoes. The consequences of South Korea's collapsed savings rate are beginning to register in the country's slowing rate of growth, economists said. For nearly 40 years, growth galloped along at between 6 and 8 percent, as banks were flush with household savings that fueled business investment and research.

Rio Tinto Group iron ore executive Stern Hu was detained in China on suspicion of espionage and stealing state secrets, Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith said. Hu, an Australian and head of London-based Rio’s iron ore operations in China, was detained on July 5, Smith said in Perth today. The executive hasn’t been charged and there wasn’t any indication allegations were business-related, he said, declining to comment on how relations with China would be affected. Three other Rio workers, all Chinese nationals, are also being held.