Chapter 338 The Chaos in Korea (Part 1)

  Although the South Korean government announced that the fluctuation range of the Korean won will be expanded to 10%, the domestic struggle for the presidential election is still in full swing, and this contest has seriously affected the Korean won market.

  After seeking help from the United States to no avail, Lim Chang-yeol quickly adjusted his strategy, announcing that South Korea decided to seek a large amount of emergency rescue from the International Monetary Fund, and started negotiations with the International Monetary Fund as soon as possible. He announced to the outside world: "We will finalize all the rescue matters with the IMF next week." It is said that the amount of this emergency rescue is about 60 billion U.S. dollars, which is far more than other countries in Southeast Asia, because South Korea is currently The eleventh largest economy in the world.

   In addition to this, South Korean media also quoted news from Japan, claiming that Lim Chang-yeol and Japanese Finance Minister Hiroshi Mitsuka had a 15-minute telephone conversation on the possibility of bilateral financial assistance. Since Japan is the largest economy in East Asia, although it is currently affected by the currency crisis, its foundation and economic strength have not been greatly affected. In addition, Japan has frequently rescued other Southeast Asian countries before, which makes the market confidence in the Korean won recover quickly.

On this day, the won rose sharply. As of the Asian trading hours, the won rose from 1,139 won to 1 US dollar the previous day to 1,065 won to 1 US dollar, an increase of 6.5%. The loss exceeded 60% in one day.

  On November 22, Yamaichi Securities, one of the largest securities firms in Japan, filed for bankruptcy with the Ministry of Finance, which greatly shook the confidence of the market. Asian regional currencies including the Japanese Yen fell for a while, but not too much.

  South Korean President Kim Young-sam delivered a televised speech on this day, apologizing to the people for the economic problems the country is facing, and calling on the people to tighten their belts and practice strict savings to overcome the current crisis.

  On November 26, Tokuyo District Bank, located in the Sendai area of ​​northern Japan, announced its closure and applied for judicial protection, which dealt another heavy blow to the Japanese banking industry. The market speculated that the focus of the currency crisis had shifted to Japan, but this argument was quickly refuted because Japan is the world's second largest economy, and the closure of some commercial banks was purely operational, while others were due to overseas Being implicated in excessive lending will not hurt the fundamentals of the Japanese economy.

The day before, the Ministry of Finance of South Korea terminated the foreign exchange business of eight securities banks with financial problems, causing foreign investors in South Korea to go to other banks for foreign exchange. Investor confidence is shaky and more deposits are expected to be withdrawn.

   On this day, South Korean companies also declared bankruptcy. A large South Korean company named Shunsan Heavy Industry applied to the court for a protection order on this day. This company is one of the top 100 companies in South Korea, with tens of thousands of employees and dozens of subsidiaries. In order to avoid debt collection by creditors , they can only apply to the court for a protective order.

  In fact, since 1997, among the 30 large enterprises in South Korea, 7 have gone bankrupt or applied to the court for protection orders. The currency crisis has evolved into a financial crisis, and then deteriorated into an economic crisis.

  However, all this has long been expected by the market, and the Korean won has not fluctuated violently. The won has been trading around the 1,110 won-to-the-dollar level since news broke that the South Korean government had sought assistance from the International Monetary Fund, with the market awaiting the outcome of this week's talks between South Korea and the IMF.

  …

   "Rep. Kim, our negotiations with the IMF have begun!" After a day of talks, Park Hee-rae, exhausted physically and mentally, still did not forget to report the progress of the negotiations to Kim Dae-jung, who is currently the most vocal candidate for the election.

  Because the Bank of Korea declared that it would ask for help from the IMF, and the South Korean Finance Ministry publicly declared that it would not ask for help from the IMF. Originally, Lim Changyeol didn't want to bring Park Hee Lai this time, but Park Hee Lai is the governor of a country's central bank after all, in charge of monetary policy, so even if he has a million dislikes in his heart, he can only pinch his nose and let him go. Park Hee Lai participated together.

  Originally after Lim Chang-yeol came to power, he planned to purge the Bank of Korea, but before he could do anything, the United States gave him a sap, which completely disrupted his originally prepared plan. The Bank of Korea has become the biggest winner of public opinion. Under such circumstances, it is not easy for Lim Changyeol to ask for a substitution.

It's just that what they didn't expect was that at this time, Park Xilai was already "in Cao Ying and his heart in Han". Although he was a member of the New Korea Party, his political stance had already fallen to the New Political National Assembly Party. , specifically, he took refuge in Kim Dae-jung, the promising presidential candidate.

"Hmm!" Kim Dae-jung on the other end of the phone snorted noncommittally, and said in a flat tone, "Mr. Park, are your negotiations going well? You must know that the hope of the Republic of Korea is in your hands. I hope you will take advantage of this opportunity." , don’t let the people of the Republic of Korea down!”

  Pu Xilai extremely despised this adjutant's opening remarks in the bottom of his heart. It sounded righteous and profound, but in fact it was just a cliché and empty words without any substance.

  However, this is also a required course for politicians. You must be familiar with this kind of words and use them at your fingertips. After Park Xilai also echoed a few words, he changed the subject and directly explained the content of the meeting: "At present, there are a few situations that are not the same as the rumors outside. The first is the amount of assistance, which Lin Changyeol declared before. The US$20 billion fund seems completely insufficient now, and it is estimated that the amount we need is at least US$50 billion. Second, there have been major differences between us and the IMF regarding the rectification of financial institutions. The IMF requires us to have some The problematic financial institutions are closed for bankruptcy, and Lin Changlie hopes to reorganize these financial institutions first, and then liquidate them if rescue is hopeless. The third is to ask us to improve the transparency of accounts. The IMF requires banks to list on their balance sheets The market value, not the book value, Lin Changlie did not dare to make decisions on this point, and the negotiations were deadlocked on this point."

Kim Dae-jung didn't know much about economics, but he was keenly aware of the problems, and said in surprise, "If this happens, won't it cause greater shocks in the short term? Not to mention anything else, the banking system alone will There was an earthquake-like reaction."

"Yes!" Park Hee Lai on the phone sighed, and after a long silence, he continued: "The current problem is not a problem that will cause greater shocks, but that the IMF takes advantage of this to force South Korea to open up more More markets, and more transparency in the economy. You must know that these are the foundations for Korean companies to gain a foothold in the world. If this aspect is also made public, the Republic of Korea will have no secrets at all.”

   "What will happen if you don't agree?" Kim Dae-jung was also silent. Although he regarded the current government as a bandit, he still had to straighten out his position in the face of big right and wrong.

"No?" Park Xilai smiled wryly, and said bitterly: "In this situation, how could you not agree? If you don't agree, the Republic of Korea will collapse immediately, and those companies with good financial conditions will also be dragged into it." The consequences of going into the abyss are almost unimaginable. To be honest, we have long been psychologically prepared for the conditions proposed by the IMF. You will be forced to accept this condition."

  As soon as he heard this result, Kim Dae-jung was speechless for a while. Although he has not yet become the president of South Korea, he has already begun to consider issues from the position of the president of South Korea. This time, he was silent for five minutes before he said with difficulty: "If this is the case, how long will the South Korean economy last?" Can we recover later?"

Park Xilai was also full of bitterness. He lowered his head and thought for a long time before he replied uncertainly: "If this is the case, it may return to the current level in 1999. The key is that once the promise is made, the short-term There will also be major shocks in the country, and we must be mentally prepared for this."

   "Short term?" Jin Dazhong's eyes lit up here, as if he had thought of something, he hastily perfunctory Park Xilai, telling him to keep an eye on the negotiation here, and then hung up the phone.

Hearing the "beep" sound from the microphone, Park Xilai sighed helplessly. So far, everyone in the negotiating team felt that there was nothing they could do. This feeling of being controlled by others was really reconciled, but The situation is stronger than people, and when it is time to bow its head, the Republic of Korea has to bow its so-called "noble" head.

   It's just that what he didn't expect was that the presidential candidate who was talking to him would use the information he revealed to quickly cause a huge disturbance.

  …

   On December 1, when the last month of 1997 came, the morning sun shone on the streets of Seoul. Residents who left early soon discovered that, at unknown times, several eye-catching posters had been pasted up at every intersection, with the eye-catching head of presidential candidate Kim Dae-jung on the screen, and the slogan below it read "Action! Save our Economy!", under this line of big words, there are several lines of slightly smaller words, explaining the content of the above slogan.

  The specific content is that we hope that everyone can deposit foreign currency in the bank and sell gold and silver jewelry to the country. It is also indicated that Mr. Kim Dae-jung will hold a rally at Seoul Square at three o'clock in the afternoon and give a public speech to explain the content on the poster.

Since the previous public rejection of the proposal of the New Korea Party attracted most of the public's attention, and the presidential election campaign is in full swing, this presidential candidate who often appears on TV is no stranger to the public. The slogan was so provocative that most Seoul residents decided to check it out in the afternoon.

  On their way to Seoul Square, these ordinary people were surprised to find that dozens of different folk groups appeared on the street. These heads are tied with hair ties, most of which have the word "Save" written on them, and they are promoting on the streets with gongs and drums. Interested people lean over to listen to them. Most of the content is "We will not buy imported goods" and "We must unite to save our own lives." country" etc. The speaker spoke dryly and hoarsely, while the surrounding crowd trembled and their blood boiled.

  Ordinary Korean people are not cold-blooded. In fact, the changes in the quality of life have made them start to care about the national economy. Under this situation, they are a little bit encouraged, and they can't help but participate in it. By around two o'clock in the afternoon, more than 50,000 people had poured into Seoul Square, and more people were coming from all directions.

It has to be said that hundreds of so-called civic groups’ “noisy” on the streets successfully attracted the attention of most ordinary people, and also made the so-called “Save Our Economy” campaign achieve its intended purpose, successfully igniting the public Emotions. And when Kim Dae-jung appeared in the center of the square, standing on the podium that had been set up long ago, this emotion suddenly reached a climax.

Seeing the dark crowd below the stage and the roaring cheers, Kim Dae-jung smiled, took the hair tie handed over by the staff, tied it on his forehead without hesitation, and immediately said "Save" Two large characters were inlaid on his forehead!

   Thanks to book friends lubo98, Shihuangtian, and kalm masters for voting monthly tickets for support!

  

  

  (end of this chapter)