President calls for swift, 'unpolitical' corporate restructuring

By Byun Duk-kun
SEOUL, April 30 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak called Thursday for swift
efforts to restructure the nation's troubled businesses to prevent unhealthy
firms from dragging others down.
"There may be some companies who think they can avoid restructuring by waiting a
little longer just because economic indicators have recently improved, even when
the global crisis is still unfolding," the president was quoted as saying at a
weekly meeting of a special committee on economic crisis.
"Companies that are doing well would be able to survive when the ones that need
to be restructured are quickly identified and put to restructuring," the
president added, according to his spokesman Lee Dong-kwan.
Earlier reports said 14 out of the country's 45 major business groups fell short
of the standard designed to measure their financial soundness in a recent
assessment conducted by local lenders.
About 10 conglomerates are expected to sign a deal with creditor banks on
corporate restructuring that will likely involve selling off assets or business
affiliates.
"I understand it will be very difficult to decide (which companies will undergo
restructuring), but we have no choice but to make decisions based on our
objective observation," the president said, according to his spokesman.
Transparency is another required element when deciding which firms will undergo
such painstaking measures, the president said.
"Politics must be completely excluded from any decision under any circumstances,"
he was quoted as saying.
Lee warned against moral hazard by banks, saying what the government is trying to
do now is "to clean up after the mess left by financial institutions."
bdk@yna.co.kr
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