The Seoul Bank saga in Korea has not been the finest
performance for a country keen to show the rest of the world that
it's rapidly changing. In fact, it can best be described as a
comedy of errors. But finally, in August, the curtain came down
when Hana Bank won the right to take Seoul Bank out of government
hands.
The administration was relieved: it will recoup some of the W156
trillion ($131 billion) it has pumped into the financial sector.
The story of Seoul Bank started in 1998 when the financial crisis
almost wiped it out. Bad credit after bad credit tumbled out of its
loan portfolio. That year, W5.6 trillion of taxpayers' money was
injected into the bank to stop it from toppling over. Ever since,
the government has desperately tried to recoup its money by selling
the bank.
Unfortunately, selling such a distressed bank...
