It could be just me, but it sometimes feels like we are living in a crazy time.
Although times may feel a bit too crazy, we have always overcome in the past.
One thing that pops in my head is the IMF crisis, so let me tell you about it.
It was in November, 1997 that South Korea was hit by the crisis.
That year, South Korean companies were in bad conditions, having difficulty paying off their loans, so the South Korean government had to beg the International Monetary Fund (for a 58 billion US dollar loan)
That year, the Korean government revealed that Korean companies owed 200 billion US dollars.
Back then, the crisis in Korea was rooted in its 재벌 Chaebol .
They wasted money in areas rooted in corruption.
The Chaebol in Korea had debt burdens three times that of other businesses in the developed countries.
Those Jaebeols failed to pay off their loans, and in turn went bankrupt.
The financial problem began with the collapse of Hanbo Steel.
Now we have forgotten the name of Hanbo… but back in the 1990s, it was Korea’s 14th biggest Chaebol.
That year in 1997, it was revealed that Hanbo’s debt was 22 times more than its net worth.
It’s reported that Hanbo’s Group had some 22,000 employees… but as the group went bankrupt, those employees lost their full time jobs.
After Hanbo, the Halla Group, Korea’s 12th biggest Chaebol went bankrupt.
So did Sammi, Jinro, Daenong, Kia…
It was like a domino effect, one by one each corporation fell.
You won’t believe what I am going to tell you, but the next year in 1998, more than 2,500 companies in Busan also went out of business.
Tens of thousands of people lost their jobs as a result.
One thing I remember is that the acronym “IMF” in Korea was used in a different way.
IMF stands for International Monetary Fund.
But back then, many people said “IMF stood for I’M Fired”.
I was young when all of this began. Many of my classmates’ fathers were fired.
Some of them had decided to move to different regions, looking for a job and more affordable places to live.
As this all started in November, 1997, Koreans couldn’t celebrate Christmas that year.
No one was playing Christmas carols.
No one decorated a Christmas tree, either.
People stopped sending Christmas cards.
Christmas and life as we knew it was never the same, following the IMF Crisis.
I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the Financial Crisis was a traumatic event for a lot of Koreans.
Some changes were inevitable.
Many fathers lost their jobs…
They couldn’t pay their children’s tuition fee for the next semester.
So a lot of university students decided to join the military.
And since private colleges and universities were more expensive than public schools, a number of students who took the Suneung exam in the year of 1997 wished to attend national universities, making the field more competitive.
And a lot of international students had to return.
During the IMF crisis, the US dollar became more valuable compared to the won.
On December 23rd, in 1997, 1 dollar was converted into 2,067 won.
Suppose that you are a Korean student who is studying in the states and that your parents are paying 2,000 US dollars in tuition fees.
Before the IMF crisis, your parents had to pay 2 million won.
But after the IMF crisis, those parents had to pay more than 4 million won…
During the IMF crisis, we tried to make a big change.
For example, newspapers had fewer pages to save paper.
TV broadcasting stations ran for less time to save electricity.
Stores replaced imported products with domestic ones.
Public holidays were canceled.
Elevators were programmed to stop at every other floor to save energy.
Hospitals delayed non-emergency surgeries.
Companies encouraged their employees to turn in dollars or yen if their employees had extra.
Many people had experienced inconveniences, but did not complain.
Instead, many Koreans waited in line for hours and hours to donate their gold jewelry to pay down the country’s IMF debt.
Athletes gave up their medals and trophies.
Housewives donated their wedding rings.
Thanks to them, Korea was able to make a profit of over 300 kilos of gold.
That way, we could overcome the financial crisis.
If you want to share your memories with me, please don’t hesitate to do so 
Busan Travel & Living 