White Paper on South Korean Economic Turmoil

White Paper on South Korean Economic Turmoil



The National Reunification Institute in a white paper released on April 29 decried the Lee Myong-bak group of traitors for turning south Korea into mayhem of economic bankruptcy and impoverishment of people.

Consisting of six parts including “The economy dependent on foreign monopoly capital”, “Nosediving economy, worst financial crisis” and “Snowballing debt, serious business bankruptcy”, it cited concrete facts to prove that this is entirely attributable to the group’s sycophancy, treachery and unpopular rule. It said:

The south Korean economy is a colonial and crippled one which cannot keep itself afloat without relying on others. It has got further deformed and increasingly dependent upon others since traitor Lee Myong-bak took power.

The Lee group of conservatives has offered everything of south Korea to the US under the signboard of giving priority to the south Korea-US alliance since the very day of its seizure of power, making south Korea fall victim to the US policy of aggression and plunder not only in political and military fields but in the economy.

No sooner had he come to power than he visited the US to beg it to conclude FTA. He did not hesitate to commit such treachery as opening the south Korean market to the American beef prone to the mad cow disease to please his master.

Not content with this, the Lee clan cracked down on the protest actions of the south Korean people against the beef import.

The clan recklessly introduced foreign monopoly capital, turning south Korea into a stage of activity and heaven of monopoly capitalists.

They are holding sway over the south Korean economy to meet their interests, holding 30% of its stock market and more than 60% of stocks in the banking business, in particular.

They rake up huge profits every year including billions of US dollars in the name of stock dividend.

Styling himself “economic president”, Lee bragged that he would deliver the economy out of crisis and bring about rapid growth during the tenure of his office and thus make south Korea an economically developed nation in a decade to come. But the reality shows that he pushed the economy to stagnation.

Last year the economic growth rate slumped, recording the lowest level since 1998. This year it is expected to be minus 2.4%.

Export which is claimed to be the lifeline of the south Korean economy is rapidly declining.

It decreased by 18% in November and 17% in December last year as compared with the same months in the previous year.

January this year witnessed a 33% decrease in export, an all-time low since statistics of exports were collected in 1967. The decline in export sharply increased trade deficit, exceeding US$ 13 billion for the first time in recent decade.

Public consumption and investment in equipment experienced a slump.

The growth rate in consumption decreased from 5.1% in 2007 to 0.9% last year and the rate of increase in investment in equipment from 7.6% to minus figure.

Stock market is in chaos.

South Korea is so heavily saddled with foreign debts which need to be redeemed urgently that the economy will go totally bankrupt if they are paid at one time.

The liabilities of businesses increased by 22% late last year as against the precious year, amounting to US$ 1.155 trillion.

The debts of the 10 big businesses more than doubled in a year.

Businesses are becoming insolvent and those that survived are carrying out restructuring, leaving a great number of workers jobless.

The unemployed increased by over 500, 000 for a year, reaching some 3.5 million, or a record high since 1998.

The gap between the rich and the poor has widened and the people have been further impoverished since the group of conservatives came to power.

Some 3.59 million people of 1.91 million families are unable to earn the minimum cost of living and 180, 000 people of 70, 000 families are destitute and need emergency aid.

Housing shortage is getting worse.

Homeless families amount to over 7 million, 45% of all the families.

Prices and taxes are skyrocketing.

This year has witnessed a ceaseless price hike.

In February, consumer price increased by 4.1% and food price by 70% at the maximum. Such price growth rate is seven times as much as that in capitalist countries.

South Korea has earned ill fame not only as a den of criminals but as the land plagued with suicide.

On a daily average 36 people kill themselves under the pressure of business bankruptcy, difficult living conditions and debt.

Suicides per 100, 000 people numbered 21.5 last year, a world record, and 7% of total population amounting to some 3.4 million people are said to have an urge to suicide.

The majority of people are suffering from the serious economic downturn and destitution while a small handful of rulers and their clans are wallowing in luxury, accumulating wealth through corruption and irregularities.

Lee Myong-bak is the kingpin of scandals who amassed wealth with all sorts of fraudulence and bribed his way to presidency.

After he took office a series of scandals committed by his clan were brought to light including the suspicion of bribery by his sister-in-law, the abusive exercise of power by his brother, the irregular fund-raising by his-in-laws and the fabrication of stock price by his son-in-law.

A permanent advisor to the Grand National Party (GNP) that earned notoriety as the supporter of fraud and irregularities and the grabber of truckloads of money took a colossal sum of money from a computer manufacturer in return for the promise of a preference for war supplies order. Civil servants at the levels of deputy minister and department director forged documents as if they did farming to obtain much money.

Brass hats took bribes worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from businesses and purchased contaminated food to supply it to soldiers and seized millions of dollars of demobilization money.

According to information published by the officeholder ethics committee, two thirds of lawmakers increased their wealth in spite of the serious economic crisis last year and eight out of ten top amassers were GNP parliamentarians.

One out of four parliamentarians owns immovables worth millions of dollars, and the first sixteen are all GNP members, and the first thirty, except some, also belong to the GNP.

To the consternation of all, Lee’s wealth increased by US$ 440, 000 although he brought about economic bankruptcy and impoverishment to the people.

The Lee clan can neither evade responsibility for having pushed the south Korean economy and the people's livelihood to catastrophe nor escape the stern punishment of history and the nation for their treachery and crimes against the people