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Strategies & Market Trends : Asia Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Stitch who wrote (4478)	6/12/1998 7:19:00 PM
From: JEFF CHAPMAN	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9980

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. str/hh/rl * end of story * BTW, I got this story from mytrack.com's software which is free and can be downloaded here: mytrack.com If you do sign up for this (you get Comtex newswires around the clock on markets around the world - yes, including Asia, plus Marketguide reports for free, with news/quotes/ticker in 'pushed' streaming format), please put 'Muthavugah' in the referred by field...