Thanks to the success, Korea became a member of the WTO in 1995 and a member of the OECD in 1996, but these successes had blinded the nation to the lurking dangers of the global economy. Quite simply, it could be said that Korea had popped the champagne cork too soon. The Asian financial crisis, which started in Thailand, spread through East Asia like wild fire. Korea was by no means exempt from this crisis. [MUSIC] 6 out of 10 major corporations were in danger of bankruptcy. Even the conglomerates of Korea were on the verge of collapse. [MUSIC] On November 21st, 1997 Korea applied for relief assistance from the IMF. [MUSIC] >> To the globalized environment, in return the Korean [MUSIC] >> Corporate downsizing became the order of the day, while the people of Korea who once dreamed of joining the world's advance countries were burdened to share the pain [MUSIC] Then again, the financial crisis presented an opportunity for economic reforms. Insolvent financial institutions were shut down or merged while corporate businesses underwent extensive restructuring. [MUSIC] Along with this restructuring, management systems were also changed to include principles based on competition and performance. [MUSIC] >> First of all, Korea recognized that it had to restructure some of its policies and some of its industries, and it did that aggressively and forcefully, provided leadership in that. It did not wait for the rest of the world to make it happen. >> As a result, Korea's Foreign Exchange Reserves, which had dwindled a 3.9 billion dollars during the financial crisis, surged to 99 billion dollars in September 2001 making Korea the 5th country with the most Foreign Exchange Reserves in the world [MUSIC] Repayment to the IMF which began in 1998 was completed in August 2001 with a final installment of $350 million. It was a truly moving achievement in which Korea managed to pay off the loan three years ahead of the deadline. [MUSIC]