Hyundai Asan Bails Out its Sister Firm

South Korea's Hyundai Asan Co, a unit of the Hyundai Group, said on Monday it would take over the group's loss-making tours to North Korea from its sister firm Hyundai Merchant Marine.

"Hyundai Merchant Marine would not participate in our North Korean tour project in the future as the company had been under pressure from its creditors to pull out of it," a Hyundai official said. "Hyundai Asan would be in charge of the tourism project."

The official said Hyundai Asan could lease cruising ships from Hyundai Merchant Marine or pay the cruise operator for its ferry runs to North Korea's scenic Mt. Kumgang region.

Hyundai Engineering's board approved on Monday morning Shim Hyun-young, president of Hyundai Engineering Plastic, as new president of the nation's largest builder.

For the first time since it launched the loss-making tour in 1998, Hyundai Merchant cancelled 12 of its 21 scheduled ferries to North Korea in April.