Washington, 21 November 1997 (RFE/RL) - South Korea has asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to assemble a financial support package to deal with the country's growing financial crisis.
South Korea's new Finance Minister Lim Chang-yuel told a press conference in Seoul that a loans of around $20 billion would be enough to solve the country's difficulties.
IMF officials in Washington say they are looking at a package that would include IMF loans and support from other nations similar to packages recently assembled by the fund to help Thailand and Indonesia through like crises.
South Korea, the world's 11th largest economy, has been hit by financial turmoil that has pushed the won, the country's currency, down by 10 percent, rocked the domestic stock market, and prompted Japanese banks to demand repayment of thousands of millions of dollars in short-term loans unless an IMF program was sought.