South Korea's finance ministry said on Tuesday it plans to announce measures to restructure the construction industry in December, as part of the government's bigger plans to remove zombie companies from the economy.

"We are thoroughly looking across many industries, but the construction industry is one sector under review for now. Measures to strengthen the industry's competitiveness will be announced in December," a finance ministry official said.

"Smaller construction companies rather than some of the nation's major companies seem to have problems," he added.

The aim is to carry out "pre-emptive and powerful corporate restructuring" in advance to make sure companies with no hope of surviving don't derail the rest of construction sector in the long run, according to the ministry.

The construction sector has been boosting growth in Asia's fourth-largest economy, epxanding 5.3 percent in the first quarter from three months earlier, while the overall economy posted a 1.1 percent growth on-quarter.

The ministry's policy plan report for the second half of the year did not elaborate further.