SEOUL IS FUN FOR THE FOREIGNERS--SO FAR
"Our problem is how to turn away financing officers from our good friends the foreign bankers without hurting their feelings," said In-Young Chung, the Minister of Finance for the Republic of Korea.
His point was that the country's foreign borrowing requirements this year will fall well below earlier forecasts. A year ago, the Bank of Korea, the central bank, estimated that the country would need about $00 billion in 1986. Now it may need as little as $00 billion.
Chung was probably aware of a touch of irony in his ebullience. He was speaking against a backdrop of unnerving political unrest in Seoul. There had been a spate of self-immolations by anti-government protesters, and the day Chung talked to Euromoney a left-wing sit-in was staged at a Bank of American affiliate in Seoul. Even with the slackening in recent borrowing requirements, overseas debt has hit a record $48 billion, putting the country among the world's four biggest debtor nations.
In one sense, South Korea's buoyant economy is bad news for Seoul's community of foreign bankers. If Korea eventually reaches its target of financial self-sufficiency, they may lose their present pampered position.