The industry ministry on Friday approved Samsung Group's sales of its defense affiliates to another conglomerate Hanwha, pushing forward a takeover deal scheduled to be completed by the first half of this year.
  

"The government has approved Hanwha's request to purchase the two defense companies -- Samsung Techwin Co. and Samsung Thales Co. -- as of Feb. 6," the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said.
  

In November, Hanwha, a conglomerate initially built on defense business, said it will take over four of Samsung's affiliates, including the two that manufacture aircraft engines and radar devices.
  

The package deal, which also covers Samsung's chemical units Samsung General Chemicals and Samsung Total Petrochemicals, is estimated at 1.9 trillion won ($1.74 billion).
  

Samsung is South Korea's largest family-run conglomerate. Hanwha Group is ranked 10th.
  

Workers at the Samsung affiliates have been staging rallies demanding annulment of the deal, saying the sales agreement was reached without any sort of consensus with the employees of the affected companies. (Yonhap)