Chaebol the claim that in order to be a competitive economy more power must be given to the chaebol. In recent years, the leading political parties of South Korea have reversed their pro-large corporate stance to one of economic diversification. Under Kim Dae-Jung and in the wake of the 1997 Asian Financial crisis, many reforms were made to the chaebol. Most of these changes pertained to corporate structure, transparency in financial reporting, corporate governance, and debt stabilization. In 1997, the IMF provided a bailout loan of $60 billion conditional on revision. Distressed financial institutions were to be closed down and those
Smoking in South Korea Smoking in South Korea Smoking in South Korea is similar to other developed countries in the OECD, with a daily smoking rate of 19.9% in 2013 compared to 20.9% in Germany and 19.3% in Japan. However, male smoking is among the highest at 36.2% while female smoking by far the lowest at 4.3%. The South Korean government aims to take down male smoking rate to the OECD average of 29% by 2020 by making the country one of the world's most difficult places to smoke, using a combination of significant price hikes, mandatory warning photos on cigarette packs, advertising bans,