<div><p>South Korea's debt-laden Kumho Asiana Group said Tuesday it will axe executives, force staff to take unpaid leave and sell off a range of assets under its restructuring plan.</p><p>The country's eighth largest conglomerate said it plans to raise 1.3 trillion won (1.1 billion dollars) by offloading assets at home and abroad, including in Vietnam and Hong Kong.</p><p>Kumho Asiana also said in a statement it would cut the number of its executives by 20 percent and order all office workers to take a month-long unpaid leave to save costs.</p><p>The group has been struggling to ride out a liquidity crisis after its attempt to sell Daewoo Engineering and Construction failed, and last week it put two of its troubled affiliates under a debt workout programme.</p><p>State-run Korea Development Bank (KDB), a key creditor, said last week that Kumho Industrial, the group's building unit, and Kumho Tire would be put under the programme to avoid liquidation.</p><p>The scheme will focus on a rollover of debt and capital reductions through debt-for-equity swaps, KDB vice president Kim Young-Kee said.</p><p>Creditors also agreed to reschedule the debt of Asiana Airlines, the country's second flag carrier, and Kumho Petrochemical, in return for rapid restructuring, he said.</p><p>The conglomerate is groaning under an estimated 18 trillion won in debt, compared with assets worth about 38 trillion won.</p><p>It acquired Daewoo Engineering and Construction for 6.43 trillion won in 2006, and bought logistics company Korea Express for 4.1 trillion won last year amid concerns about its reckless expansion.</p><p>The global economic crisis aggravated Kumho Asiana's financial woes and delayed the sale of Daewoo Engineering and Construction, a major builder bailed out in the wake of the 1997-98 East Asian financial crisis.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=66281730&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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