Korea Post Loses 166 Bln Won After Investing in LG Card, SK Global

Korea Post, South Korea’s postal service agency, lost 166.2 billion won (US$145 million) last year after buying stocks in two troubled companies, LG Card Co. and SK Global Co., the Ministry of Information and Communication said Thursday.

Last year, the postal service also reported an investment loss of 22 billion won in managing some derivative products, the ministry said in a report to an annual parliamentary audit.

Korea Post, considered the second-largest government investor after the National Pension Corp., reported a loss of 98 billion won after buying shares of LG Card, which narrowly avoided bankruptcy earlier this year only after creditors funded a $4.5 billion bailout.

The agency also posted an investment loss of 68.2 billion won from SK Global, which changed its name to SK Networks Co. to shake off its tarnished image after a $1.2 billion accounting scandal broke out in March.

For the whole of 2003, the report said, an insurance unit of Korea Post had an overall profit of 81.9 billion won and a net premium income of 4.9 trillion won.