NEWS FLASH:::
(COMTEX) South Korean president promises US he will rebuild economy
South Korean president promises US he will rebuild economy
PALO ALTO, California, June 12 (AFP) - South Korean President Kim
Dae-Jung on Friday went to the heart of California's Silicon Valley to
promise a transformation of his country's battered economy.
Kim, making a nine-day visit to the United States, told a predominantly
Asian audience at Stanford University here that he would foster
democracy and free market economic principles in South Korea.
A former dissident elected president in the wake of an Asian currency
crisis that rocked the South Korean economy, 74-year-old Kim also vowed
to eradicate corruption and cronyism.
Kim praised Stanford and its close ties with the wildly successful
computer companies in nearby Silicon Valley.
"A valuable network has been formed between Silicon Valley businesses
and Stanford University professors and students," Kim said. "I believe
Korea can learn a great deal from this and use it."
Kim, a political exile when he first visited the university in 1983,
lauded the entrepreneurs who built successful businesses in Silicon
Valley, saying they demonstrate how an economy flourishes in political
freedom.
"Such talents do not thrive under authoritarian rule," Kim said.
"Democracy and a free market economy are as inseparable as two wheels
of a cart. Both must move at once in a synchronized and forward
motion."
Kim rejected the practices of previous South Korean leaders, saying
their hard political line does not help the economy.
"In Asia, it has been fashionable to argue for an incomprehensible
concept called 'Asian values'," Kim said, referring to the philosophy
of meshing business with authoritarian values.
"But such an argument collapses under its own logic and has ultimately
resulted in failure."
Kim promised to sever "collusive links" between South Korea's giant
conglomerates and politicians and to free banks from government
control.
"I will root out corruption," Kim said.
Kim said that South Korea's powerful corporations, called "chaebols,"
will be restructured and the people who profit from them will be made
more accountable.
Kim also promised more security and unemployment support for workers in
conjunction with major government reform.
"Civil servants will no longer hand out concessions unfairly to
specific companies, under pressure from superiors," Kim said. "Civil
servants can no longer justify dishonesty by referring to the
corruption of higher-ranking officials."
Kim asked that Americans invest in South Koreas economy "not only for
our recovery, but for your own profit."
Kim was to meet later Friday with executives at Hewlett Packard and
Intel in Silicon Valley, lobbying them for investment in South Korea.
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