News In Brief

Creditors pushed back until today their deadline for declaring Daewoo Motor Co. bankrupt, as South Korea's No. 2 automaker and union negotiators met through the night on a formula for securing emergency loans to keep it from collapsing. Daewoo failed to meet just under $40 million in debt payments Monday, and a senior company official said another $110 million due later this week cannot be repaid. Without the union's agreement to a restructuring plan calling for 3,500 layoffs, creditor banks say they will not extend the new loans. The union has vowed not to OK any deal until after Daewoo pays its workers $100 million in back wages. A collapse would throw Daewoo into court receivership and, analysts say, would likely cause a chain reaction of bankruptcies among its 504 suppliers, affecting another 300,000 workers.

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