Victims of TMON and WeMakePrice's liquidity crisis hold a rally in front of the Financial Services Commission in Seoul, Sunday, calling for enacting a special law to assist them. Yonhap

The total in delayed payments by cash-strapped TMON and WeMakePrice to their vendors has reached 818.8 billion won ($613 million) as of Monday, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Wednesday. The amount is about three times higher than the 278.3 billion won that the government estimated on Aug. 1.

Accordingly, the government increased the amount of financial support for affected sellers to 1.6 trillion won from the original 1.2 trillion won proposed on Aug. 7.

The latest decisions were announced during a meeting with economy-related ministers presided over by Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok, as the two Korean e-commerce platforms, owned by Singapore-based Qoo10, have experienced in massive cash crunch, causing delays in payments to sellers and consequent setbacks in refunding money to their customers.

“All related ministries, local governments and agencies will intensify efforts to prevent further damage being caused by the liquidity crisis of TMON and WeMakePrice,” Choi said.

The 1.6 trillion won in aid includes offering loans with lower interest rates, extending the maturity of existing loans and postponing repayments in order to help address the financial difficulties faced by the affected businesses, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises and the self-employed.

According to the ministry, 16 local governments have also contributed to the increased liquidity support as they decided to expand their aid by about 360 billion won through the emergency management stabilization fund.

Since the delayed payment incident occurred in May, refunds totaling 35.9 billion won for general goods and gift certificates have been completed, the ministry noted.

The Korea Consumer Agency is currently accepting applications for collective dispute resolution from consumers who have experienced problems with their gift certificate purchases on the two platforms.

From Aug. 1 to 9, the agency already received more than 9,000 applications concerning the travel, accommodation and airline sectors.

On July 29, the two online marketplaces applied for corporate rehabilitation with the Seoul Bankruptcy Court, saying their financial condition could not be restored through self-rescue measures.

Currently, the autonomous restructuring support (ARS) program is ongoing.

The ARS is a system in which the court supports smooth negotiations between debtors and creditors prior to the decision to commence corporate rehabilitation procedures and place troubled firms under court-led debt restructuring.

The ministry said the government will monitor the progress of the situation through an inter-agency task force every week and continue to develop supplementary measures.