The Recolonization of Korea. Seoul Black Monday. IMF Intervention in Korea





by Michel Chossudovsky (Canadian economist. He is a professor of economics at the University of Ottawa)





In the late days of November 1997 an IMF team of economists led by trouble-shooter Hubert Neiss was swiftly rushed to Seoul. Its mandate: to negotiate a Mexican-style bail-out with a view to rapidly restoring economic health and stability. An important precedent had been set: the IMF’s bitter economic medicine, routinely imposed on the Third World and Eastern Europe, was to be applied for the first time in an advanced industrial economy.



Washington had carefully set the stage in liaison with the US Embassy in Seoul. Barely a week before the arrival of the IMF mission, President Kim Young Sam had sacked his Finance Minister for having allegedly hindered negotiations with the IMF. A more acceptable individual was appointed on Washington’s instructions. Very convenient: the new negotiator and Finance Minister Mr. Lim Chang-yuel happened to be a former IMF and World Bank official. Also fired at short notice was presidential economic adviser Kim In-ho, for having spurned the IMF option and said Seoul would restore international credibility through its own efforts. (1)



Finance Minister Lim was accustomed to the Washington scene. No sooner had he been appointed, he was whisked off to Washington for negotiations with his former colleague IMF Deputy Managing Director Stanley Fischer.



Seoul Black Monday

The government’s dealings with the IMF had been a closely guarded State secret. On Friday 21st of November, the government officially announced that it would be seeking an IMF bailout. On the following business day, November 24th, Seoul Black Monday, the stock market crumbled to a ten year low over feared IMF austerity measures and expected corporate and bank collapses. Faithfully obeying orders from Washington, Finance Minister Lim had removed all exchange controls from the currency market with the result of enticing further speculative assaults against the won. (2)



Two days later, November 26th, the IMF mission headed by Mr. Hubert Neiss arrived at Seoul’s Kimpo airport. And barely four days later on the 30th, the parties had already agreed on a Preliminary Agreement. The draft text had been prepared at IMF headquarters in Washington prior to the arrival of the mission. The policy solutions had already been decided in consultation with Wall Street and the US Treasury: no analysis or negotiation was deemed necessary.



Arm Twisting in the wake of the Presidential Race

But the deal was not yet wrapped up. The country was on the eve of a presidential election, and the front-runner opposition centre-left candidate Kim Dae jung remained firmly opposed to the IMF bailout agreement. He warned public opinion and accused the outgoing government of organising a massive sell-out of the Korean economy:



’Foreign investors can freely buy our entire financial sector, including 26 banks, 27 securities firms, 12 insurance companies and 21 merchant banks, all of which are listed on the Korean Stock Exchange, for just 5.5 trillion won,’ that is, $3.7 billion. (3)



Political turnaround

Barely two weeks later, upon winning the presidential race, Kim Dae jung had become an unbending supporter of strong economic medicine:



I will boldly open the market. I will make it so that foreign investors will invest with confidence; in a mass rally he confirmed his unbending support for the IMF Pain is necessary for reform and we should take this risk as opportunity. (4)



Succumbing to political pressure, Kim Dae jung, a former dissident, political prisoner and starch opponent of the US backed military regimes of Park Chung Hee and Chun Doo Hwan, had caved in to Wall Street and Washington prior to his formal inauguration as the country’s democratically elected president. In fact Washington had demanded in no uncertain terms that all three candidates in the presidential race commit themselves to adopting the IMF programme.



Enforcing Enabling Legislation through Financial Blackmail

Kim Dae jung had also given a green light to the Korean parliament. A special session of the Legislature was held on the following day, December 23. The four main government motions concerning the IMF Agreement were adopted virtually without debate. (5) Enforced through financial blackmail, legislation had also been approved which stripped the Ministry of Economy and Finance and of its financial regulatory and supervisory functions. South Korea’s Parliament had been transformed into a rubber stamp. Meanwhile, Moody’s Investor Service, the Wall Street credit agency, acting on behalf of US banking interests, had rewarded Korea’s compliance by downgrading ratings for Korean government and corporate bonds, including those of 20 banks, to ’junk bond’ status. (5)



Negotiating a $57 Bailout: Timetable of the Heist

19 November 1997- 24 December 1997



19 November: Outgoing President Kim Young-sam fires Minister of Finance Kang Kyong-shik for hindering negotiations with the IMF. Kang is replaced by Mr. Lim Chang-yuel, a former Executive director of the IMF.



20 November: Finance Minister Lim is rushed off to Washington for talks with his former colleague, IMF Deputy Managing Director Stanley Fischer.



21 November: The Repulbic of Korea (ROK) government formally announces that it will be seeking an Agreement with the IMF. The New Finance Minister is put in charge of negotiations with the IMF.



24 November: Seoul Black Monday. The Seoul stock market crumbles to a ten year low over feared IMF austerity measures and expected corporate and bank collapses.



26 November: The IMF mission arrives in Seoul headed by Mr. Hubert Neiss.



27 November: Shrouded in secrecy, talks between the IMF mission and ROK government officials commence.



30 November: After four days of negotiations, the IMF and the Government agree on a Preliminary Agreement.



1 December: The draft agreement is submitted to the approval of the ROK Cabinet.



3 December: IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus arrives in Seoul to wrap up the deal. US Undersecretary of the Treasury David Lipton in discussions with Camdessus states that the deal cannot be finalized unless all three presidential candidates give their support to the IMF bailout.



4 December: The final text of the Agreement is ratified by the IMF Executive Board which approves a stand by arrangement for 21 billion dollars out of a total package of 57 billion.



5 December: Presidential candidate Kim Dae-jung expresses his opposition to the IMF Agreement and warns public opinion on its devastating economic and social impacts.



18 December: Kim Dae-jung wins the Presidential election and immediately declares his unconditional support for the IMF programme



22 December: US Under-secretary of the Treasury David Lipton arrives in Seoul. Lipton demands Kim Dae Jung to agree to massive layoffs of workers.



23 December: A special session of the Legislature is called. The Legislature rubber stamps four key government motions regarding the IMF programme.



24 December: Wall Street bankers are called to an emergency meeting on Christmas Eve. At midnight, the IMF agrees to rush 10 billion dollars to Seoul to meet an avalanche of maturing short-term debts.



26 December: Boxing Day: President-elect Kim Dae jung commits himself to tough actions: Companies must freeze or slash wages. If that proves not enough, layoffs will be inevitable.



Wall Street Bankers meet on Christmas Eve.

The Korean Legislature had met in emergency sessions on December 23. The final decision concerning the 57 billion dollar deal took place the following day, on Christmas Eve December 24th, after office hours in New York. Wall Street’s top financiers, from Chase Manhattan, Bank America, Citicorp and J. P. Morgan had been called in for a meeting at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Also at the Christmas Eve venue, were representatives of the big five New York merchant banks including Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley and Salomon Smith Barney.(6) And at midnight on Christmas Eve, upon receiving the green light from the banks, the IMF was allowed to rush 10 billion dollars to Seoul to meet the avalanche of maturing short-term debts. (7)



The coffers of Korea’s central Bank had been ransacked. Creditors and speculators were anxiously awaiting to collect the loot. The same institutions which had earlier speculated against the Korean won were cashing in on the IMF bailout money. It was a scam.



Dismantling the Chaebols

The IMF bailout had derogated Korea’s economic sovereignty, establishing a de facto colonial administration under a democratically elected president. It had plunged the country virtually overnight into a deep recession. The social impact was devastating. The standard of living collapsed; the IMF reforms depressed real wages and triggered massive unemployment.



The devaluation of the won, together with the stock market meltdown, generated a deadly chain of bankruptcies affecting both financial and industrial enterprises. The hidden agenda was to destroy Korean capitalism. The IMF program contributed to fracturing the chaebols.



[Note from Emperor’s Clothes?’Chaebol’s are conglomerates of many companies clustered around one holding company. The parent company is usually controlled by one family. In 1988, the 40 top chaebol grouped a total of 671 separate companies. Hyundai and Daewoo are examples. They produce widely differing products, everything from cars to TV sets. Chaebols do not, and this is important, control banks. Summarized and quoted from Yes but what exactly is a chaebol?,

at http://megastories.com/seasia/skorea/chaebol/chaewhat.htm ]



The latter had been invited to establish strategic alliances with foreign firms meaning their eventual takeover and control by foreign capital. Acting directly on behalf of Wall Street, the IMF had demanded the dismantling of the Daewoo Group including the sell-off of the 12 so-called troubled Daewoo affiliate companies. Daewoo Motors was up for grabs. Korea’s entire auto parts industry was in crisis leading to mass layoffs and bankruptcies of auto-parts suppliers. (8)



Meanwhile, the creditors of Korea’s largest business empire, Hyundai, had demanded that group’s break-up. With the so-called spin off, meaning the fracture of Hyundai, foreign capital had been invited in to pick up the pieces, meaning Hyundai’s profitable car and ship building units,at good prices. Korea’s high tech, electronics and manufacturing economy was up for grabs. Western corporations had gone on a shopping spree, buying up industrial assets at rock-bottom prices. The dreviewuation of the won, combined with the slide of the Seoul stock market, had dramatically depressed the dollar value of Korean assets.



California and Texas Tycoons to the Rescue

America had come to the rescue of Korea’s ’troubled banks’. For a meager $454 million, a controlling share (51%) of Korea First Bank (KFB) was transferred to Newbridge Capital Ltd, a US outfit specializing in leveraged buyouts.(9) In one fell swoop, a California-based investment firm, with no visible prior experience in commercial banking, had gained control of one of Korea’s oldest banking institutions with 5,000 employees and a modern network of branch offices through out the country.



Under the terms of its agreement with Newbridge, the ROK government had granted so-called put back options to KFB (Korea First Bank) which entitled the new owners to demand compensation for all losses stemming from non-performing loans made prior to the sale.



What this meant in practice was a total cash injection by the ROK government (in several installments) into the KFB of 17.3 trillion won, an amount equivalent to 35 times the price Newbridge Capital had paid the government in the first place. (10) In a modern form of highway robbery, a totally fictitious investment of 454 million dollars by Newbridge had enabled the new owners to cash in on a 15.9 billion dollar government hand-out. Not bad! And behind this lucrative scam, the Wall Street underwriter Morgan Stanley Dean Witter was also cashing in on fat commissions from both the ROK government and the new American owners of KFB.



And how was the government going to finance this multi-billion dollar handout? Through lower wages, massive layoffs of public employees including teachers and health workers, drastic cuts in social programs as well as billions of dollars of borrowed money.



Financed by the Korean Treasury, the new Texan and Californian owners of KFB had become domestic creditors of Korea’s troubled business conglomerates. Without having risked a single dollar, they now had the power to shake up, downsize or close down entire branches of Korean industry as they see fit, including electronics, automobile production, heavy industry, semiconductors, etc. Most of the business takeover proposals and spin-offs of the chaebols required the direct consent of Western financial interests. The fate of the workers of the chaebols was also in the hands of the new American owners.



The ROK government had not only lost control over the privatization program, it had allowed the entire financial services industry to be broken into. Chase Manhattan had purchased a majority interest in Good Money Securities. Goldman Sachs’ had acquired control of Kookmin Bank while New York Life had taken over its insurance arm Kookmin Life.(11)



The wholesale privatization of major public utilities had also been demanded, including Korea Telecom and Korea Gas. Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) was to be broken down into several smaller electricity companies prior to being placed on the auction block. Pohang Iron & Steel Corp. (POSCO) was also to become fully privatized. A similar fate awaits Hanjung, the State owned Korea Heavy Industries and Construction Company, slated to enter into a strategic alliance with Westinghouse.



Instating a System of Direct Colonial Rule

The system of indirect colonial rule first instated by the US Military under President Sygman Rhee in 1945 had been disbanded. Korea’s ruling business elites had been crushed. An entirely new system of government under President Kim Dae Jung had been established, geared towards the fracture of the chaebols and the dismantling of Korean capitalism. In other words, the signing of the IMF bailout Agreement in December 1997 marks an important and significant transformation in the structure of the Korean State. It also marks a decisive step in inter-Korean relations and Washington’s design to extend the free market to the entire Korean Peninsula.



Reunification and the Free Market

An IMF negotiating mission was rushed to Seoul in early June 2000, barely a few days before the historic inter-Korean Summit in Pyongyang between President Kim Dae jung and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) Chairman Kim Jong il. Careful timing. The IMF’s presence in Seoul was barely noticed by the Korean press. Firmly behind Kim Dae jung, South Koreans had their eyes riveted on the promise of the country’s reunification. Other political issues were shoved to the sideline



Meanwhile backstage, removed from the heat of public debate, the IMF team was quietly putting the finishing touches on a new IMF Agreement to be duly signed by Finance Minister Lee Hun-jai, prior to his departure for the Pyongyang Summit.



It was a carefully planned sell-out: the June 2000 Agreement was more deadly than the first one signed in December 1997. In it, the ROK government renewed the IMF’s stranglehold on the Korean economy until 2003 without the occurence of any form of public debate or discussion. The dismantling and fracturing of South Korean capitalism was carefully outlined, to occur over a three year period, from 2000 to 2003. (12)



But the IMF mission had something else up its sleeve. In liaison with the US Embassy, the IMF mission briefed Finance Minister Lee Hun-jai, who was in charge of the Pyongyang Summit’s economic cooperation agenda. Lee was a faithful crony of the IMF. Prior to assuming the position of Finance Minister, he was in charge of the infamous Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), the powerful IMF sponsored Watch Dog, responsible for triggering the bankruptcy of the chaebols. Carefully briefed before his departure for Pyongyang, Finance Minister Lee was to uphold American business interests under the disguise of inter-Korean economic cooperation. Washington’s hidden agenda under the reunification process is the eventual recolonization of the entire Korean peninsula.



Colonizing North Korea

Under the inter-Korean economic cooperation program signed in Pyongyang, the Seoul government committed itself to investing in the North Korea. Hyundai, Korea’s largest conglomerate, was to invest and build factories in the North.



But the Korean chaebols, including Hyundai, are rapidly being taken over by American companies. In other words, inter-Korean economic cooperation may turn out to be a disguised form of foreign investment and a new window of opportunity for Wall Street. The new American owners of the chaebols in consultation with the US State Department will ultimately be calling the shots on inter-Korean economic cooperation including major investments in North Korea:



Kim Dae Jung’s strategy is to help Pyongyang with aid and development, tap its cheap labor and build goodwill and infrastructure that are also in South Korea’s interest Everyone has to keep up the pretense that nothing will happen to the North Korean regime, that you can open up and keep your power and we’ll help you make deals with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank... But ultimately, we hope it does undermine them. It’s the Trojan horse. (13)



The government of Nobel Peace Laureate President Kim Dae jung had set the stage on behalf of Washington. With US military might in the background, the promise of reunification, to which all Koreans aspire, could lead to the imposition of so-called free market reforms on Communist North Korea, a process which would result in the recolonization and impoverishment of the entire Korean peninsula under the dominion of American capital.



Endnotes

Agence France Presse , 19 November 1997.



Willis Witter, Economic Chief sacked in South Korean Debt Crisis; Emergency measures are introduced, Washington Times, 20 November 1997. See also International Monetary Fund, Korea: Request for IMF Standby, includes Letter of Intent and Memorandum on the Economic Programme, see para. 32, p. 44. The text can be consulted at http://www.chosun.com/feature/imfreport.html Quoted in Michael Hudson, Draft for Our World, Our World, Kyoto, 23 December 1997.









황보석님께서 2009-05-03 21:29:33에 쓰신 내용입니다

: 저의 이 글을 반박하기에 앞서 먼저 찬찬이 읽어보시기 바랍니다. 읽어볼 필요도 없다고 하는 것은 깽판을 치자는 것밖에 되지 않습니다. 아울러 소설 쓴다고 한 마디씩 툭툭 던져놓고 가는 일도 없기 바랍니다. 제가 소설을 쓴다고 주장하려면 소설이 아닌 다큐멘터리가 무엇인지 보여주어야 합니다. 링크 건 주소로 가 보시면 저의 주장을 뒷받침하는 IMF 당시의 상황분석 동영상이 있습니다. 논리적 합리적으로 해주시는 반박은 얼마든지 환영합니다.

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: 가르치려고 든다는 비난은 사양하겠습니다. 이 글은 가르치려는 것이 아니라 우리 모두가 공유해야 할 정보일 뿐입니다. 물론 저의 시각에서 알아본 정보입니다. 다른 시각에서 알아본 정보도 얼마든지 있음을 인정합니다. 이 정보가 틀린 것이라면 논리적 합리적으로 논파해서 틀렸음을 입증해주시면 됩니다. 그것이 토론의 기본이고, 논파를 당한다면 기꺼이 수용하겠습니다. 마음 한 구석으로 저는 논파 당하기를 기대하고도 있습니다. 제가 끼고 있을지도 모르는 색안경을 벗기 위해서입니다.

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: 제가 세상, 아니 정치권을 보는 시각은 독재(그것이 어떤 형태의 독재이건)와 권력남용을 극도로 증오하고 권력형 부정부패를 자행한 자는 그것이 누구이건 인간 이하로 본다는 것입니다. 한 가지 덧붙이자면, 저는 세기의 지성이라는 체 게바라보다 아옌데를 훨씬 더 많이 존경하는 덜떨어진 화상이기도 합니다. 자신의 뜻을 펼치기 위해 수많은 목숨을 희생시킨 체 게바라보다 수많은 국민들을 살린 뒤 홀로 죽기를 택함으로써 칠레 국민들의 가슴 가슴에 민주의 씨앗을 심어 놓은 아옌데의 정신이 더 숭고하다고 믿기 때문입니다.

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: IMF를 한 마디로 요약하자면 미국에서 파견한 “경제적 암살자”에 당한 사건입니다. 김영삼 정부가 전혀 예측을 할 수 없었던 것도 당연한 일입니다. 왜냐하면 거대자본과 정권욕에 눈이 먼 자의 야합에 의해 너무도 급격히 벌어진 일이었고, 우리 정부로서는 속수무책으로, 꼼짝없이 당할 수밖에 없었던 일이기 때문입니다. IMF 직전 일본이 제시했던 100억불의 신디케이트 론이 미국과 dj-민주당의 합의하에 거부된 이유를 잘 숙고해보시기 바랍니다.

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: 1997년 당시 엄청난 무역적자에 허덕이고 있던 미국은 태국 발 위기를 기화로 아시아 죽이기에 돌입하고 한국에서는 dj를 새로운 파트너로 정합니다. 이유는 간단합니다. 지렛대로 삼기에 가장 만만한 상대였기 때문입니다. 털어먹기 어려운 한국의 “계획경제와 관치금융”을 비리의 온상과 기득권층의 사금고로 만들어 버리는 소위 미국의 “corrupt-operation(부정부패 조작이라기보다는 수술에 가까운 의미임)”을 통해 개방과 개혁을 주장하는 여론의 파도에 배만 띄우면 되는 상황, 즉 미국 입장에서는 최고의 시나리오에 최적의 인물이 바로 dj였기 때문입니다. 군부를 극복한 최초의 민주정권이라는 대의명분은 덤입니다.

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: 미국의 서브프라임 직전까지 투자적격을 때렸던 “신용평가회사” 가 IMF 당시 한국의 기업을 평가하는 "기준"은 지극히 획일적이고 간단했습니다. “부채비율이 높으면 부실기업이다” 라는 것이었지요. 그런데 과연 그럴까요? 노키아 부채비율은 1300%가 넘습니다. 미국의 내노라 하는 기업들 중에 3000% 넘는 기업도 많습니다. 지금 현재 금융자본의 부채비율은 스스로 정확한 계산도, 파악도 못할 정도입니다. 그런데 당시 한국 부실기업의 기준은 700% 였습니다.

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: 결론은 소위 “양털깍기”입니다. 거짓말도 자꾸 하면 진실이 되지요. 일본이 제시했던 100억불의 신디케이트 론은 미국과 dj-민주당의 합의하에 거절됩니다. 이후 천문학적이라고 떠들던 외채는 IMF의 단돈 20억불만으로 해결되고 외환위기는 미국의 립서비스와 함께 끝나고 맙니다. dj 정권이 받은 20억불도 미국(IMF)의 지시에 따라 일본이 건넨 돈이고 말입니다. 믿고 싶지 않겠지만 그것이 제가 알고 있는 사실이고 그에 대한 근거자료와 증거도 얼마든지 있습니다.

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: IMF를 당한 이후 부채비율 700% 미만의 건실한 기업도, 설비도 IMF가 요구한 살인적 고금리(20~25%)를 정부가 수락한 탓에 속절없이 고철 값으로 외국인 손아귀에 팔려나갑니다. IMF 당시 부채비율 300% 미만의 기업들도 많이 팔려 나갔습니다. 이후 한국의 기업과 노동자들은 외국자본의 “가마우지”가 됩니다. 이익에 대한 유보금, 재투자, 근로자의 실질임금상승(+물가인상율)은 용납되지 않았습니다. 오로지 자기들이 들고 나갈 배당금만 철저히 계산해서 착취해 빠져나갔습니다.

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: 금융을 삼킨 이후의 상황은 더 암담합니다. 이제는 되려 저금리를 유지시켜 단 10년 내에 쏠림, 거품, 몰림, 부동산, 주식시장 등을 통해서 헐값에 인수한 자산의 가치를 폭파임계점까지 증폭시켜놓고 그나마 있던 중산층의 호주머니를 탈탈 털어먹고는 천문학적 이익을 거둔 뒤 철수와 재진입을 반복합니다. 그 사이에 양극화는 필연입니다. 국경 없는 외국자본의 입장에서는 중국과 동남아가 세계의 공장을 자처하는 상황에서 한국의 제조업이 요구하는 산업자본은 none of my business일 뿐입니다.

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: 새삼스러울 것도 없는 역사 속에서 반복되는 사실이지만, 아둔한 민중들은 “(neo-slavery(신 노예상태)”인지도 모르고 이를 이용하는 정치인들에게 당하고 있습니다. dj 전에 칠레가 똑같은 방법으로 당했지만 아둔한 우리 국민은 역사속의 학습효과 따위는 없습니다. 미국의 개입으로 독재자를 물리치고 시장개방과 함께 민주화되었다는 사실만 보고 싶을 뿐입니다. 마치 dj와 민주당이 자유민주주의의 투사가 되었듯 말이지요. 미국이 피노체트의 쿠테타를 원조하면서 다른 한편으로는 보유하고 있던 동(copper) 물자를 풀어 국제시장가격을 폭락시킴으로써 칠레를 하이퍼인플레이션과 외환위기에 빠뜨렸다는 사실은 그 점을 입증하는 비교적 단편적인 사실중 하나일 뿐입니다.

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: 물론 dj는 박정희와 전두환의 군사정권의 반대편에 섰었던 반체제 정치범이자 민주투사였고 피노체트는 군부 쿠데타의 주역이라는 점이 서로 상반되지만, 미국은 어느 쪽이든 뜯어먹기에 유리한 쪽을 택할 뿐, 민주투사냐 군부냐를 가리지 않습니다. 또 한 가지 다른 점이 있다면 피노체트는 확실한 카드였던 반면 dj의 경우는 민주적 선거에 의해 “대통령으로 당선되기도 전에 월스트릿과 워싱턴으로 기어들어간 사람”을 파트너로 정한 것이겠지요.

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: 미국의 입장은 오로지 유리한 입장의 인사를 후방 지원한다는 것입니다. 미국이 저네들 뜻대로 정권을 교체하려고 술책을 썼던 예로는 칠레와 우리나라 외에도, 인도네시아 같은 경우 집권자에게 일부러 돈을 먹이고 언론에 흘린 케이스가 있습니다. 또 후세인, 아프가니스탄에서도 베어링포인트가 주로 써먹던 방법이고요. 물론 그 술책이 실패해서 결국에는 쳐들어갔습니다만......

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: 저는 지도자의 덕목은 100점짜리 정책이 아니라 그 결과로서 입증해야 한다고 생각하고 그 생각은 지금도 변함이 없습니다. 노무현 전 대통령 정말 대단한 일 했습니다, 아니 하셨습니다. 2003년 미국중심의 국제금융시장에서 아시아 국가를 보호하고 역내채권시장의 플랫폼을 만들자는 것을 골자로 한 ABMI를 제안했고 그것이 마침내는 공동기금인 CMI 합의로 이어졌기 때문입니다. 그 당시 골디락스라는 호황과 FTA로 대표되는 자유무역기조에 배치되는, 그래서 미국의 심사를 꼬이게 민드는 내용이었는데도 말이지요. ABMI에 대해서는 다음 사이트를 참조해보시면 됩니다.

: http://cafe.naver.com/ijcapital.cafe?iframe_url=/ArticleRead.nhn%3Farticleid=1359

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: 대단히 뛰어난 지도자가 아니면 단임제 하에서 저 정도로 사고를 확장하기가 거의 불가능인데, 정말 실용외교의 진수라 할 만합니다. 결국 dj와 IMF의 똥을 치운 것은 노무현 전 대통령이셨던 것입니다. 2mb는 잘 차려진 밥상에 숟가락만 놓은 셈이고요. 적장(?)의 무훈을 평가할 보수신문들의 반응이 갑자기 궁금해집니다. ㅎㅎ

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: 저번에 번역해서 올리겠다고 한 외국의 자료는 오타와대학교 경제학부 교수인 Michel Chossudovsky의 1997년에 IMF를 당하게 되었던 당시의 상황분석인 The Recolonization of Korea, Seoul Black Monday. IMF Intervention in Korea(한국의 재식민지화, 서울 블랙먼데이, IMF 한국에 개입)입니다만, 분량이 만만치 않아서 읽어보기만 하고 번역은 하지 못했습니다. 궁금해 하실 분들을 위해 원문을 답글로 달아놓겠습니다.

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: “MBC 이제는 말할 수 있다” 에서 인터뷰했던 스티글리츠도 그와 유사한 칼럼들을 썼는데 그 요지는 미국의 베일아웃 자금입니다. 필요하면 핫머니(단기자금)를 왕창 밀어 넣어 놓았다가 환, 주식, 채권 등을 한꺼번에 쫘악 뽑아서 외환위기 만든 다음, IMF나 월드뱅크를 통해 돈 빌려주고 헐값으로 그 나라의 우량자산을 인수한 뒤, 다시 환시장 안정(환차익 극대화) 시켜놓고, 다시 제값에 막대한 이익 얹어서 팔아먹고, 불리하면 달러흡입(석유결제대금이 달러니까 다시 산유국이 미국 채권 되사주는 식으로)해서 달러가치 도로 올리고 한다는 내용이지요.