Although the South Korean government announced that it would increase the volatility of the won to 10%, the battle for the presidential election in South Korea is still in full swing, and this contest has also seriously affected the won market.

After seeking assistance from the United States to no avail, Lim Chang-yeol quickly adjusted his strategy, announcing South Korea's decision to seek a large amount of emergency relief from the International Monetary Fund and to start negotiations with the International Monetary Fund as soon as possible. He announced: "We will finalize everything with the IMF next week." The amount of this emergency relief is said to be around $60 billion, which is far more than the rest of Southeast Asia, because South Korea is currently the world's 11th largest economy.

In addition to this, South Korean media also quoted sources from Japan as claiming that Lim Changyeol and Japanese Finance Minister Hiroshi Mitsuka had a 15-minute telephone conversation about the possibility of bilateral financial assistance. Since Japan is the largest economy in East Asia, although it has also been affected by the currency crisis, its foundation and economic strength have not been greatly affected at all, and Japan has frequently bailed out other countries in Southeast Asia before, so the market's confidence in the won has quickly recovered.

By the end of the Asian trading session, the won had risen from 1,139 won to $1,065 to $1,065 to $1, an increase of 6.5 percent, which also made Jong Seok's $650 million earned the day before lose more than 60 percent on this day.

On November 22, Yamaichi Securities, one of Japan's largest brokerage firms, filed for bankruptcy with the Ministry of Finance, which greatly shook the market's confidence. Regional Asian currencies, including the Japanese yen, were lower at one point, but not by much.

South Korean President Kim Yong-sam delivered a televised speech on the day, apologizing to the people for the economic problems facing the country and calling on the people to tighten their belts and practice economy to overcome the current crisis.

On November 26, the Tokuyo Regional Bank, located in the Sendai region of northern Japan, announced that it was closing its doors and applying for judicial protection, which dealt another heavy blow to the Japanese banking industry. There is speculation that the focus of the currency crisis has shifted to Japan. However, this claim was quickly refuted. Because Japan is the world's second-largest economy, the closure of some commercial banks is simply a business problem, and some are implicated in excessive overseas lending, which will not hurt the foundation of Japan's economy.

The day before. The Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Korea terminated the foreign exchange operations of eight securities banks with financial problems. As a result, foreign investors in South Korea have gone to other banks to exchange foreign currency. The report claimed that more than $10 billion in deposits had been withdrawn, and more are expected to be withdrawn due to erratic investor confidence.

And on this day. In South Korea, some companies have declared bankruptcy. On this day, a large South Korean company called Sunsan Heavy Industries, one of the 100 largest companies in South Korea with tens of thousands of employees and dozens of subsidiaries, applied to the court for a protective order in order to avoid being collected by creditors.

In fact, since '97, 7 of South Korea's 30 largest companies have gone bankrupt or applied for protection orders from the courts, and the currency crisis has turned into a financial crisis, which has then deteriorated into an economic crisis.

However, all this was expected by the market, and the won did not fluctuate drastically. Since the news of the South Korean government's request for assistance from the International Monetary Fund, the won has been fluctuating around the level of 1,110 won to the dollar, and the market is waiting for the outcome of the negotiations between South Korea and the IMF this week.

……

"Congressman Kim, our negotiations with the IMF have begun!" After a day of talks, Park Hee-rae, who was physically and mentally exhausted, still did not forget to report the progress of the negotiations to Kim Dae-jung, who is currently the most vocal in the campaign.

Since the Bank of Korea previously announced that it would seek help from the IMF, and the South Korean Ministry of Finance openly declared that it would not ask the IMF for help, although the two sides were not as strong as fire and water, they also looked at each other very unpleasantly. Originally, Lin Changyeol didn't want to bring Park Xilai this time, but after all, Park Xilai is the governor of a country's central bank and is in charge of monetary policy, so even if there are thousands of unhappy people in his heart, he can only pinch his nose and let Park Xilai participate in the end.

Originally, after Lin Changyeol came to power, he was ready to purge the Bank of Korea, but before he could make a move, the United States gave him a blow to the head, completely disrupting his original plan to disrupt. The Bank of Korea has become the biggest winner of public opinion, and in this case, it is not easy for Lim Changyeol to ask for a replacement.

It's just that what they didn't expect was that Park Hee-rae at this time was already "in Cao Ying's heart in Han", and although he was a member of the New Korea Party, his political stance had long since fallen to the New Politics National Assembly Party, specifically to join Kim Dae-jung, a promising presidential candidate.

"Hmm!" Kim Dae-jung on the other end of the phone snorted noncommittally and said in a flat tone, "Mr. Park, is your negotiation going well?" You must know that the hope of the Republic of Korea is in your hands, and I hope that you will make good use of this opportunity and not disappoint the people of the Republic of Korea. ”

For this deputy official-like opening remarks, Park Xilai despised it extremely in his heart, and it sounded righteous and strict and understood the righteousness, but in fact it was just a cliché and empty words, with no substance at all.

However, this is also a compulsory course for politicians, and they must be familiar with this kind of talk and come with it easily. Park Xilai also echoed and said a few words, then he changed his tone and directly explained the content of the talks: "At present, there are several situations that are different from the rumors in the outside world. The first is the amount of help, the $20 billion that Lin Changlie said before seems to be completely insufficient, and it is estimated that the amount we need is at least $50 billion. Second, there is a major disagreement between us and the IMF on the governance of financial institutions. The IMF has asked us to close down these problematic financial institutions and go into bankruptcy, while Lim wants to restructure these financial institutions first, and then liquidate them if there is no hope of salvation. The third is to ask us to increase the transparency of our accounts. The IMF requires banks to list market capitalization, not book value, on their balance sheets. At this point, Lin Changlie did not dare to make his own decisions, and the negotiations were deadlocked at this point. ”

Kim Dae-jung didn't know much about the economy, but he was also keenly aware of the problems and said in surprise: "In this way, won't it cause even greater shocks in the short term?" If nothing else, the banking system alone will have an earthquake-like response. ”

"yes!" Park Hee-rae on the other side of the phone sighed, and after a long silence, he continued: "The problem now is not that it will cause greater shock, but that the IMF will take advantage of this to force South Korea to open more markets." and more transparency in the economy. You must know that these are the foundations of Korean companies in the world. If this aspect is also made public, the Republic of Korea will have no secrets to speak of. ”

"What happens if you don't say yes?" Kim Dae-jung was also silent, although he regarded the current government as a thief, but in the face of great rights and wrongs. He still has to put his position right.

"No promise?" Park Hee-rae smiled bitterly. Not without bitterness, he said: "This is the case. How could it not be agreed? If it does not agree, the Republic of Korea will collapse immediately, and those financially sound companies will be dragged into the deep pool. The consequences are almost unimaginable. To be honest, we have been mentally prepared for these conditions proposed by the IMF for a long time, and the reason why we are delaying now is just a strategy for the talks to make it easier to bargain, and in the end we will still be forced to accept this condition. ”

As soon as he heard that this was the result, Kim Dae-jung was speechless for a long time. Although he has not yet become the president of South Korea, he has already begun to think about problems in the position of president of South Korea, and this time he was silent for five minutes before he said with difficulty: "If this is the case, how long will it take for the South Korean economy to recover?" ”

Park Xilai's face was also full of bitterness, and he lowered his head and thought for a long time, and then replied uncertainly: "If this is the case, it is estimated that it will be able to return to the current level in 99." The key is that once the promise is made, it will suffer major shocks in the short term, and this must be psychologically prepared. ”

"Short-term?" Jin Dazhong's eyes lit up, as if he had thought of something, and hurriedly perfunctory a few words to Park Xilai, asking him to keep an eye on the negotiations here, and then hung up the phone.

Listening to the "beep" sound from the microphone, Park Xilai sighed helplessly, so far, everyone in the negotiation team feels that there is nothing to be done, this feeling of being controlled by others is really unwilling, but the situation is stronger than people, and the Republic of Korea has to lower his so-called "noble" head when it is time to bow his head.

It's just that what he didn't expect was that the presidential candidate he talked to would use the information he revealed to quickly cause a big storm.

……

On December 1st, when the last month of '97 arrived, the morning sun shone on the streets of Seoul. Residents who came out early soon found out that at some point, several eye-catching posters had been posted at each intersection, with the eye-catching portrait of presidential candidate Kim Dae-jung and the slogan below reading "Action!" Save our economy! There are also a few lines of slightly smaller words below this line of big words to explain the content of the above slogan.

Specifically, I hope that people will be able to deposit foreign currency in banks and sell gold and silver jewelry to the state. It was also noted that Mr. Kim Dae-jung would hold a rally at Seoul Square at 3 p.m. and give a public speech explaining the contents of the poster.

Due to the public rejection of the New Korea Party's proposals, which attracted the attention of most of the public, and the presidential campaign was in full swing, the presidential candidate, who often appeared on television, was no stranger to the public, and the slogan was extremely inflammatory, so most Seoul residents decided to visit it in the afternoon.

As they hurried to Seoul Square, these ordinary people were surprised to find dozens of different civil groups on the streets. Most of these people wore headbands with the word "save" written on them, and they beat gongs and drums to spread propaganda in the streets, and people with good intentions came to listen to their speeches, most of which were "we don't buy imported goods" and "we want to unite to save our country." The speakers spoke with dry mouths and hoarseness, while the crowd of onlookers trembled and boiled with blood.

Ordinary South Koreans are not cold-blooded, and in fact, the changes in their quality of life have made them care about the country's economy, and in this case, they are slightly encouraged to participate in it. By about 2 p.m., more than 50,000 people had poured into Seoul Square, and more were coming from all directions.

It has to be said that the "noise" of hundreds of so-called civil society groups on the streets has succeeded in attracting the attention of most of the ordinary people, and has also made the so-called "save our economy" campaign achieve its intended purpose and successfully ignite the mood of the people. And when Kim Dae-jung appeared in the center of the square and stood on the podium that had been set up a long time ago, this mood suddenly reached a climax.

Looking at the black crowd in the audience and the boiling cheers, Jin Dazhong showed a smile on his face, took the hairband handed over by the staff, and tied it to his forehead without hesitation, and suddenly the two big words "save" were inlaid on his head! (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you book friends lubo98, Shi Huangtian, and kalm gods for their monthly ticket support!