요약: 한국은 세계에서 가장 안전한 곳 중 하나에서 신용 위기로 위태로운 국가로 전락 중임. 현재 최고 등급의 회사채 스프레드까지 3개월 만에 157bp 확대됐고, 심지어 급여와 같은 단기성 자금조달을 위해 발행되는 채권의 금리까지 13년래 최고치까지 상승함. 이는 9월 강원도의 레고랜드 사태 이후 정부 지원의 차주조차 신용위기에 노출되어 취약할 수 있음이 드러나며 빠르게 악화됨. 특히 부동산 사업에 있어 주요한 자금조달원인 PF-ABCP 부실이 더욱 심각해질 수 있다는 공포가 확산되고 있음. 이와 관련해 증권사 및 건설사가 약 23조 6천억원의 자금이 노출되어 있는 것으로 파악됨. 

Past financial crises are haunting South Korean policy makers as they rush to support a local credit market that’s quickly gone from one of the world’s safest to teetering on the brink. As Korea gets swept into a global debt market rout, corporate treasurers and market regulators in Seoul are staring down one of the most rapid deteriorations in the nation’s credit market ever. The rout is one of the worst in Asia’s local-currency markets amid a broader fixed-income slump this year. Yields on top-rated five-year Korean corporate debt have spiked 157 basis points in the three months through October, the worst such blowout on record. One particularly alarming development has been yields surging to a 13-year high on local commercial paper, which companies use to raise funds for short-term payments like payroll. The spike in the cost to borrow in that key money market intensified after a shock default in late September, when the developer of the Legoland Korea theme park in Gangwon Province to the northeast of Seoul missed payment on a kind of commercial paper repackaging loans. The builder’s largest shareholder is Gangwon, underscoring fears that in the new global era of rising interest rates, even borrowers with government backing are vulnerable. The type of financial engineering involved in that case is called project finance asset-backed commercial paper, or PF-ABCP as the Korean press shorthands it. It’s a key source of funds for the broader property sector. The real estate industry, as in many countries, is already straining under the impact of rising rates, amplifying fears that loans tied to construction projects underpinning the PF-ABCP could start souring more ahead. There’s a lot at stake, with at least 23.6 trillion won ($16.6 billion) of such instruments backed by brokerages or builders set to mature by the end of 2022, according to NICE Investors Service. 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-29/crisis-trauma-haunts-korea-as-it-confronts-a-credit-meltdown?leadSource=uverify%20wall