President Kim Addresses Monday's Stock Market Crash

In the wake of Monday's stock market crash, President Kim set out Tuesday to dispel public anxiety about the nation's economy.
"Liquidity is imperative for our economy. I will do my best to stabilize the stock market," President Kim Dae-jung said at a cabinet meeting at the Government Complex in Kwanghwamun, downtown Seoul.
The president requested cabinet members to do the same, stressing that the economy needed their concerted efforts, said Presidential Spokesman Park Joon-young.
The president laid particular stress on maintaining smooth capital flow. Capital drain prompted Korea to go cap in hand to the International Monetary Fund for a $58 billion bailout in late 1997.
The president's comments have been interpreted as his recognition of the urgency of the economic problems facing the nation. Domestically, there has been a series of ill-boding economic developments. A series of external incidents - soaring oil prices, the plunging price of semiconductor chips and the botched sale of Daewoo Motors - have also taken a toll on the domestic situation. Rumors are circulating that another major financial crisis may be just around the corner.
The government had been able to afford to promote the success of the reforms undertaken in the first half of President Kim's five-year tenure. For the second half of his term, the president pledged to concentrate on rapprochement with the North.
But these developments have forced the president to focus his energies on forestalling a deterioration of the still-fragile economy.
"A number of factors from within and without are impacting our economy," the president said. To an extent, these factors are beyond our control, the president said, but "government officials had been making [overly] optimistic forecasts…and there have been policy misjudgements."
He strongly criticized the moral hazards taken by state-run corporations, which should serve as role models in restructuring for private companies. "The recent audit done by the Board of Audit and Inspection reveals [the severity] of moral hazards at the state-run firms. … The concerned ministers should call those responsible to account, and devise measures against its reoccurrence."
Fundamentally, however, the chief executive forecast that the future of the nation's economy is bright. "The real economy is improving steadily, and our stocks are undervalued by 30 percent."

by Kim Jink-kook