President Asks Probe Of Daewoo, Hankook

President Kim Dae-jung asked senior policy makers Tuesday to get to the bottom of the two financial incidents, revealed in the past week, that go against the grain of the president's pledged reforms of the financial, corporate, labor and public sectors.

"The investigation into Daewoo Group's manipulation of its financial books should provide an opportunity to get to the bottom of corrupt owners or managers so that such an incident is not repeated," Mr. Kim said to the policy makers gathered at the Blue House.

Prosecutors recently found that the Daewoo Group, formerly one of the top five conglomerates, tampered with financial accounts to embezzle or transfer abroad some 25 trillion won ($20 billion) between 1997 and 1998.

The president also ordered stepped-up reform of state-invested and state-run corporations. And he demanded a thorough investigation into the collapse of Hankook Real Estate, a state-invested property management company that failed to pay 83.8 billion won in overdue bills Friday.

The two cases came to light as the Blue House tries to wrap up restructuring of the four major sectors by the end of February.

The president also ordered drastic measures to ease the pain of unemployment, "even if it puts a burden on government finances," his aides said.

Experts say unemployment could reach 4 percent, or around 1 million jobless, when reform plans are in place.

Jin Nyum, deputy prime minister for finance and economy, and Minister of Labor Kim Ho-jin were among the key advisers at the meeting.

by Kim Jin-kook