Chaebol General Motors and Renault. The chaebol debts were not only to state industrial banks but also to independent banks and their own financial services subsidiaries. The scale of the loan defaults meant that banks could neither foreclose nor write off bad loans without themselves collapsing, so the failure to service these debts quickly caused a systemic banking crisis, and South Korea turned to the IMF for assistance. The most spectacular example came in mid-1999, with the collapse of the Daewoo Group, which had some US$80 billion in unpaid debt. At the time, it was the largest corporate bankruptcy in history.
Propaganda in South Korea of attacks by North Korea including the sinking of the South Korean navy frigate, ROKS "Cheonan". Popular South Korean films often show reunification themes with friendships or family ties across the north and south division. The film "Joint Security Area" (2000) was the highest grossing Korean film up to that time. The movie depicted a friendship between soldiers from the north and south along the DMZ. The popular war movie, "Tae Guk Gi", from 2004 depicted close brothers divided as they are caught in the Korean War. South Korea broadcasts radio messages toward North Korea with news and propaganda themes.