President Kim Reprimands the New Economic Team

President Kim Dae-jung Thursday reproached the new economic team for failing to see through the planned sale of the ailing Daewoo Motor Co.to Ford.
"The sale of Daewoo Motor could have been handled more intlligently," Kim said at a luncheon with some 190 leaders in Chungju, North Chungchong Povince. "As a result, we were misled by (Ford), and left helpless to put up a protest."
He pressed on saying that Korea showed the fastest growth in energy consumption in the world, and said that "the government's slowness in coming up with an energy conservation program" is to blame.
With these words, the president has signalled that he will return his attention to resuscitating the economy.
"The president is expected to concentrate on economic and public welfare issues," a high-ranking ruling party official said, as the public sentiment is shifting unfavorably toward the president's rapprochement policy with the North while the economy is left dithering.

by Lee Yang-soo