President Kim calls for exit of insolvent companies

President Kim Dae-Jung said Wednesday that after the second-phase restructuring of the corporate and financial sectors wraps up at the end of this year, the government would offer full support to profit-making companies making but force all others out of the market.

Kim said in an interview with Maeil Business News (MBN) to commemorate the cable TV network's fifth anniversary that the government would complete reforms by next February and that the economy would begin to improve dramatically from the second half of next year.

The President forecast that the nation would achieve its aim of a US$10 billion trade surplus next year by posting a gross domestic product growth rate of 6 percent and keeping inflation below 3 percent.

He also said the government would soon unveil measures to place weak banks under holding companies in hopes of fostering the growth of banks equipped with sound and transparent financial states and qualified for listing among the world's top 100 financial institutions.

Yun Seung-Mo ysmo@donga.com