Restructuring vital, foreign experts say

At 7 p.m. Sept. 24, a reception for participants in the International Monetary Fund-World Bank joint annual meetings was held at the second floor of the Congress Center, which is located in the center of Prague. It was a place to gain understanding about global economic trends.

We asked some staff members of the IMF and financial experts how they see the Korean economy.

Their general response was that Korea's situation is not serious enough to worry about a recurrence of crisis, although the country is suffering from high oil prices and the collapse of the stock market.

They praised Korea's achievements to overcome the nation's foreign exchange crisis by using diplomatic words, but, at the same time, they warned that time is running out for restructuring.

Robert Browning, a senior IMF official who visited Korea when it was suffering from its foreign exchange crisis, advised that Korea needs to hasten restructuring to regain trust of foreign investors, although Korea has achieved remarkable growth during the past two years.

Iri Yonas of Czech Republic said that he suffered a loss through investment in a Korea-related fund based on Korea's growth potential.

"Korea's long-term prospects are not bad, so Korea might have to overcome the current difficulties," he said.

An executive of a U.S. financial institution refused to speculate when asked if the Korean government would complete restructuring by the end of the year, as promised. He noted that the situation still was the same despite the government¡¯s insistence that it would complete restructuring early.

In September 1999, at the IMF meeting in Washington, D.C., representatives of IMF member countries praised the rapid recovery of the Korean economy. In one year, their praise has changed into cool advice not to be conceited.

While there are congratulatory messages from international society about the improvement in South-North Korean relations, it seems that the Korean economy has earned cynicism in the global economy.