SK Corp rejected a demand from SK Global Co's creditors to cancel its purchase last month of property assets from the debt-ridden unit for 214.3 billion won (US million).

　　SK, the biggest share-holder of SK Global and South Korea's largest oil refiner, approved a contract on Friday to lease back newly purchased property and gas stations to SK Global until 2004, indicating it would ignore creditors' demands, SK said.

　　"The contract is to boost our marketing efficiency and bolster our competiti-veness," SK Corp said in a statement to the Korea Stock Exchange.

　　The spat threatens to worsen the row with SK Global's lenders over how much SK Corp paid for the assets and the losses creditors will have to assume to resolve SK Global's debt problems. SK Global's admission of accounting irregularities last month prompted creditors to review the company's finances and sent South Korea's stock and bond markets plunging.

　　"SKsgroupscan afford to cover bailing-out costs, making the ailing unit's debt problems different from those at Daewoo and Hyundai groups," said Han Jeong Tae, a banking analyst at Mirae Asset Securities Co in Seoul. "The current status is creditors and SK are fighting to toss the costs to the others."

　　SK Global, a unit of SK Group, restated earnings twice in the past month, and said its debt exceeded its assets by 212.8 billion won as of the end of last year.

　　Shares of SK have dropped 29 percent this year, compared with a 78 percent decline of SK Global shares. Korea's benchmark Kospi index has fallen 10 percent in the period.

　　SK Group, South Korea's fourth-largestsgroupsof companies, said last Monday its units will provide aid to revive SK Global, which needs to come up with new measures by June 18 on how to close a gap between the book value and market value of its assets.

　　"SK Group's aid promise remains intact," regardless of SK Corp's decision on Friday, said Bang Ji Man, a spokes-man at SK Group. "It takes time to map out details on the aid promise as we are waiting for results on SK Global's asset evaluation," which will be available next month.

　　SK Global's lenders, which deferred payment of 6.7 trillion won of debt for three months from March 19, earlier this month demanded SK Global reverse the sale contract with the parent company.

　　The creditors will decide their next step on June 18, based on an outside audit of the company's assets.