| [ MIT ] in KIDS 글 쓴 이(By): chosta (chosta) 날 짜 (Date): 1997년11월23일(일) 04시36분23초 ROK 제 목(Title): 계속 이어서.. South Koreans welcome IMF bailout _ with humiliation and anger Associated Press, 11/22/97 04:18 SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Like revelers at the end of a long binge, South Koreans woke up today to the awful realization that the party's over and the headache is about to begin. The morning's headlines lamented a ``National Bankruptcy'' and a ``Humiliating International Trusteeship'' - the news that South Korea will have to accept an International Monetary Fund bailout of its foundering economy. The most prevalent response: shock, humiliation and anger. ``I am so mad about what happened to our economy that I want to kick those responsible in the groin,'' small businessman Lee Moon-hee, 50, said, jerking his right foot into the air. Late Friday night, South Korea announced it was asking the IMF to organize a $20 billion-plus bailout package. In exchange, the IMF is likely to order deep spending cuts, lower import tariffs, higher domestic taxes, the elimination of shaky banks, and the forfeiture of some national decision-making power to lenders. It was bitter medicine for a country proud of its stunning rise out of the ruins and poverty of the Korean War to become the world's 11th-largest economy. The stock market's key index plunged 20.64 points, or 4 percent, to close today's half-day session at 485.43, as investors worried that the IMF loan would be coupled with strict controls that could bring more hard times. In a nationally televised speech, President Kim Young-sam apologized for the financial mess he soon will be leaving to a new administration, spoke of hardships to be borne and urged the people to work to restore the nation's economic health. ``It is time to tighten our belt again. The coming economic restructuring will involve bone-carving pain,'' he said. ``But we must show the world our determination that we can overcome this crisis.'' The nation's crowded capital, Seoul, went about its routine. Youngsters strutted with mobile telephones and designer handbags. Glitzy department stores were stacked with goods and shoppers. But the mood among individual citizens was somber. From taxi drivers to shop clerks, they all wondered how their Asian Tiger economy had been reduced to a case study of an economic boom gone wrong. ``I am so ashamed of our country and economic ministers,'' said Park Sung-hwa, 25, a sportswear clerk at Seoul's Lotte Department Store. Chung Soon-ae, 67, a cleaning woman in a high-rise building, said, ``We should never borrow the money even if we go hungry. I fear that prices will rise further and poor people like me get poorer.'' When it came to whom to blame, all spoke in once voice: corrupt politicians and businessmen who had wheeled and dealed during South Korea's boom years with little thought of the consequences. ``We have built up our nation for the past 40 years with sweat and sacrifice, and those corrupt people have wasted all our efforts,'' taxi driver Ahn Jong-nam, 56, said. South Korea's stunning economic growth rates - an average 8 percent annually over the past two decades - were largely fueled by the fast expansion of a dozen family-controlled conglomerates. Past military-ruled governments provided cheap loans, tax breaks and other benefits to help the corporate giants to expand and mass-produce cars, television sets, microchips, petroleum products and a host of other goods. That strategy helped South Korea become a trade giant. The business groups account for half of South Korea's industrial output and lead its export-driven economy. They supply one-quarter of the world's computer memory chips and account for about 30 percent of the commercial shipbuilding orders. But it also left its legacy. Two former presidents - Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo - are now behind bars for collecting millions of dollars in bribes from businessmen. Hundreds of businessmen, politicians and Cabinet ministers have been convicted of corruption. The economic boom also triggered unbridled land speculation and ruthless exploitation of the environment. In Korea, bribes to traffic police and teachers were considered as necessary as tips. The problem came to a head this year when the economy slowed down, sales dropped, and some of the weaker conglomerates went belly up, saddling banks with $26 billion in bad loans. ... Say Yes ... |