Financial and Corporate Sector Restructuring in South Korea: Accomplishments and Unfinished Agenda

Following the Asian financial crisis, South Korea has undertaken wide-ranging, economic structural reforms under IMF conditionality while receiving IMF assistance. This paper describes Korean accomplishments in restructuring the financial and corporate sectors, and also addresses the unfinished agendas. It suggests ongoing reforms in a knowledge-based economy, in which the financial sector serves as the “brain” of market economy by allocating scarce capital to the most profitable firms within South Korea. It also recommends that subsidiary companies of Korean chaebols become independent viable business units, and that new sources of growth be found by promoting Korean SMEs and venture businesses.