The French government seems to be digging itself deeper into the pit it has created for itself with South Korea, and those counting on contracts not yet awarded by Korea must be in the depths of despair. The government has now decided to privatize Thomson SA in two parts, with only the defense electronics arm, Thomson-CSF SA going in early 1997. Uncertainty will continue to hang like a miasma over Thomson Multimedia SA, which the government now wants to recapitalize before it can be sold off. Thomson Multimedia will also have to implement a recovery plan, which means that it will be very many months before it can be privatized, rendering moot the assurance that Daewoo Electronics Co could still be a candidate to buy it, if and when the time comes, but that it would depend on the formula used for the privatization.
