Market should be monitored by gov't: Kim Dae-jung By Kim Boram

SEOUL, Sept. 30 (Yonhap) -- The government should constantly manage and monitor the market to promote the market economy and keep it healthy, former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung said Tuesday.

"Businessmen are not always good people; they seek profit," said Kim, a Nobel
Peace Prize Laureate, in a video conference with Asian students conducted by the
World Bank.
"If companies harm consumers and undermine the economic foundation, they should
be punished and kicked out of the market," he added.
When asked to give advice to the United States, which is currently embroiled in
financial crisis, Kim said, "If the government lets companies do whatever they
want without any regulations, the economy is distorted and enterprises fall into
corruption."
The U.S. subprime mortgage crisis is blamed for starting the credit crunch this
year, and the global economy has been pulled in the aftermath since Lehman
Brothers, once the fourth-largest investment bank in the U.S., declared
bankruptcy earlier this month.
"A country can easily deal with a crisis with the trust and confidence of its
people, support of international organizations such as the International Monetary
Fund and the World Bank, and government leadership that comes up with good policy
and implements it," said Kim, implying that these three factors were keys to
handling the financial woes of South Korea a decade ago.
South Korea recovered from the Asian financial crisis, which started in 1997, in
about one-and-a-half years.
brk@yna.co.kr
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