South Korea Hears Echoes of 1997 in US Financial Crisis
韩国受金融危机冲击 联想当年

　 
South Korea's currency and stocks have taken a beating this week following the financial crumbling of another major US financial institution. For many Koreans, the crisis appears quite similar to what they experienced 11 years ago but this time, some say Washington appears to be changing its prescribed remedy.

这个星期，韩国的货币和股市在美国另一家大的金融机构出现财务问题之后受到冲击。对于很多韩国人来说，这次的金融危机与他们11年前经历的危机看起来很类似，但是一些人说，这次，华盛顿看来改变了它当年提出的解救办法。

South Korea's main stock index, the KOSPI, dipped to its lowest point in a year and a half this week, amid worries over a string of major bank failures in the United States, including the collapse of Lehman Brothers, one of the country's largest investment institutions. South Korea's currency, the won, plunged against the dollar as central banks around the world pumped $180 billion worth of cash into credit-starved markets.

美国出现一系列的银行倒闭，包括美国最大的投资银行雷曼兄弟所引发的担忧导致韩国股市的基准指数KOSPI这个星期下跌到一年半以来的最低点。随著世界各地的中央银行向严重缺乏信贷的市场注入1千8百亿美元的现金，韩国货币对美元出现急剧贬值。

South Korea's economy is the world's 12th largest, and depends heavily on exports, especially to the United States. That makes this country extremely vulnerable to international crises but it has also helped Seoul build up substantial reserves of U.S. dollars as a cushion against turbulence.

韩国是世界上第12大经济体，而且严重依赖出口，特别是对美国的出口。这使得这个国家很容易受到国际危机的冲击，但是它也帮助首尔建立了相当大的美元储备，作为对动荡的缓冲。

South Korea's finance minister said this week the country has enough reserves to inject into the market as needed. However, some economists note Seoul's reserves have dropped by nearly ten percent since March, and may not be sufficient to deal with a protracted period of crisis. Lee Seong-tae, governor of South Korea's central bank, warned lawmakers this week it remains what the impact of the global crisis will be.

韩国财政部长这个星期表示，韩国有足够的储备在需要的时候给市场注资。但是一些经济学家指出，自从今年3月以来，首尔的外汇储备减少了将近10%，可能不足以对付一场旷日持久的危机。韩国中央银行行长李成太这个星期警告国会议员说，全球经济危机究竟会带来什么样的影响还有待观察。

Koh Yu Seon is an analyst with Daewoo Securities here in Seoul. She says the current meltdown on Wall Street closely parallels the economic crisis South Korea and Asia experienced in 1997.

位于首尔的大宇证券公司的分析师高有善说，华尔街的金融动荡非常类似于1997年韩国以及其他亚洲国家经历的经济危机。

She says American investment banks have made excessive loans, which created a real estate bubble and made the lenders insolvent on bad debt. That, she says, is similar to what happened in South Korea, where enterprises borrowed excessively to chase bad investments.

她说，美国的投资银行做出了过度的贷款，制造了一个房地产泡沫，并且导致借贷者因为坏帐而出现资不抵债的现象。她说，这种情况与当时在韩国发生的情况类似。当时，韩国企业过度举债，最后很多投资都变得入不敷出。

Many South Koreans refer to that period in common speech as the "IMF crisis, in reference to the International Monetary Fund, which, with U.S. support, loaned South Korea about $20 billion, but, as Koh recalls, imposed austere conditions that limited the country's economic flexibility.

很多韩国人把那个时期称作是“国际货币基金组织危机”，因为当时国际货币基金组织在美国的支持下向韩国提供了两百亿美元的贷款，但是，正像高有善所记得的那样，国际货币基金组织附加了很苛刻的条件，限制了韩国的经济灵活性。

She says, the U.S. viewed bankruptcies as inevitable to get rid of inefficiencies and solve South Korea's financial problem. We had a chain reaction of them here, she adds. But now, she says the United States is taking a completely different set of actions because it wants to avoid paralysis of the entire financial system.

她说，美国当时把破产看作是铲除低效以及解救韩国金融问题的不可避免的手段。她补充说，当时，韩国出现了一系列的连锁反应。但是现在，她说，美国正在采取一套完全不同的行动，因为它希望避免出现整个金融体系的瘫痪。

U.S. officials draw a distinction between the $20 billion IMF bailout of South Korea and Washington's more than $250 billion bailout of U.S. financial institutions. U.S. banks and insurers do business all over the world, and their problems can rapidly spread to the global entities that are exposed to them. By contrast, the negative influence of South Korean bankruptcies was confined mainly to Asia.

美国官员认为，国际货币基金组织提供200亿美元贷款救助韩国与华盛顿向美国金融机构提供2千5百多亿美元的救助是不同的。美国的银行和保险公司在世界各地都有业务，而且他们的问题可以迅速的扩散到那些与它们有关的国际实体。相比之下，韩国企业倒闭带来的负面影响主要局限在亚洲。

Many ordinary South Koreans view the IMF rescue period as a humiliation imposed on their nation from outside, but the country paid back the loan and recovered far more quickly than many expected. Still, economists warn if Washington does not draw a line in its rescue of faulty lenders, it could lose credibility in preaching tough free market medicine abroad in the future.

很多韩国百姓把国际货币基金组织向韩国提供救助的那个时期看作是外面强加给他们国家的一个屈辱，但是韩国偿还了贷款而且恢复的速度超过了很多人的预期。但是，经济学家警告说，如果华盛顿这次不对有问题的借贷机构提供救助加以限制的话，今后它可能会在海外倡导严苛的自由市场药方时失去可信度。