Legoland Korea Resort in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province / Yonhap

By Kang Seung-woo

Gangwon Province will fulfill a payment guarantee for the developer of Legoland Korea Resort by mid-December, one month earlier than scheduled previously, amid a liquidity crunch, the provincial government said Thursday.

Chung Kwang-yeol, the vice governor of economic affairs of the province, said it will repay by Dec. 15 a debt of 205 billion won ($144 million), owed by the government-funded Gangwon Jungdo Development Corp. (GJC) after building the Legoland theme park in Chuncheon.

"The Gangwon government and the finance ministry have been closely discussing effective ways to ease the burden on the financial market, including creditors," Chung said during a press conference in Chuncheon.

"As a result, we've decided to repay the full amount of the debt guaranteed for GJC by Dec. 15," he said, adding that the decision was the outcome of close consultation between Gangwon Province Governor Kim Jin-tae and Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho.

GJC, which is 44 percent owned by the local government, established a special-purpose company in 2020 to fund the construction of the Legoland resort, but declared bankruptcy on Oct. 6 after missing a payment of the asset-backed commercial paper issued by the special-purpose company. The local government had guaranteed the payment but said on Sept. 28 that it would file for GJC's bankruptcy instead of paying back the money.

The theme park was one of the key projects of Choi Moon-soon, a predecessor of the current governor. Choi belongs to the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), while the incumbent governor is a member of the ruling People Power Party.

Amid growing financial market jitters, the Gangwon governor said last week that the local government will repay the debt by Jan. 29 next year, but this was not enough to ease market concerns over the trustworthiness of a commercial paper guaranteed by a local government.

Earlier in the day, the DPK urged the governor to step down and take responsibility for the Legoland crisis.

"Governor Kim Jin-tae should admit that his incompetence led to a national crisis and resign immediately," DPK floor leader Rep. Park Hong-keun said.

Meanwhile, Legoland Korea Resort has announced that it will suspend operations starting next year until March 23 for maintenance, but it said the closure had nothing to do with the current debt case.

Legoland Korea, the 10th Legoland in the world and the first global theme park in the country, opened in early May this year.