Thank you. I would like to welcome all of you this morning and to tell you how pleased I am to be here and to sit with such a distinguished panel and audience. Let me begin by taking a moment to speak about the differences in how Korean and U.S. audiences perceive communications.

Korean audiences are behind Americans in understanding the practice, and importance, of maintaining a credible public image. In the United States, a key function of public relations is to deliver information quickly and accurately, to inform important constituencies, and to help them to better understand an issue from a client's perspective. Even more importantly, effective public relations requires that all parties participate in the communications process. Silence is often interpreted by the media and outside audiences as an acceptance of any allegations in question and therefore, one has to make sure to address, and to re-spond, to both positive and negative information.

Korean's generally don't understand this. When we receive negative press, or do not see our achievements acknowledged, we tend to think we have done something wrong. In many cases, the problem is simply that we have not made an adequate effort to communicate our side of a story.

Much of this has to do with our history. Koreans are an extremely self-reliant people. We are reluctant to speak about our weaknesses, or to address bad news in public. We prefer to keep a low profile.

Let me give you an example. One of the most interesting questions in our survey measured the perceptions of U.S. audiences on the Korean war. Over 70 of the 200 respondents indicated an extremely positive response to the question "Does the Korean War have a negative or positive impact on your perceptions of the South Korean people?" Only 18 respondents delivered a less than neutral rating. Americans tended to view this as a defining moment. Many professed their admiration for our courage and determination. One respondent's response was typical. "They are a proud, tough people that took a nation in ruins and built an industrial nation."

Koreans, however, view this very differently. We see this as a shameful time, when we allowed our nation to be destroyed and reduced to poverty.

Until recently, self reliance has been a very positive factor, and, it can be argued, constitutes the basis for our past success. Who would have guessed, forty, or even ten years ago, that Korea, a relatively small nation, would rise from near total devastation, to become the world's eleventh largest economy, a member of the OECD and the fifth largest consumer of U.S. exports.

I could give you many other impressive facts, which you have probably heard, but which are rarely communicated in the media. This is not simply a question of dealing with a mass audience. Over 50% of the audience who responded to our survey had been to Korea, and 20% had been to Korea more than 10 times. Few, however, possessed a real knowledge of Korea-related issues, and many could not even answer basic questions.

My own feeling is that this has to do with our ineffectiveness in communicating with non-Koreans. As noted throughout our report, Korea suffers from a "perception deficit" that is growing over time. If this problem is not addressed, it may have increasingly negative consequences on our ability to remain economically competitive. That is why I am particularly encouraged by the extremely positive response that we have been receiving from Korean audiences, and to see so many Korean executives, institutions and media organizations here this morning. Their participation is critical if we are to successfully raise our public image. Too many activities concerning Korea are composed almost entirely of non-Koreans or Korean-Americans working for foreign companies. While these audiences are essential, and highly valued for their contribution, it is vital that Korean firms and institutions also participate, and that is why I am so pleased by the diversity of the audience here today.

If we do not directly face up to these challenges ourselves, we cannot expect anyone to do it for us. We have no one to blame but ourselves if we do not make every effort to develop a public image in accordance with our achieve-ments.

The Journal of Commerce recently released an opinion piece authored by Mr. Rabin and myself, highlighting research contained in our survey. It is contained in your seminar materials, along with several other clipping from Korean and U.S. media. It stresses the importance that Korean firms must place on moving beyond the production and engineering-type skills in which we have excelled. As our companies expand internationally, and increase their investments and activities outside Korea, we will, by necessity, find ourselves interacting with greater numbers of audiences and stakeholders who are not Korean. We can no longer afford to remain so self-reliant, and the perceptions of external audiences will become more and more critical.

The perceptions of external audiences have a direct effect on the capital costs our corporations must bear. I might also take a moment to endorse the previous comments of Chairman Kim and add that I also think this is one of the reasons that we have been so much more successful developing OEM, intermediate, and industrial, rather than consumer products. Consumer products offer greater value and higher markups. Internationally recognized branded goods represent a possible solution to the higher operating costs that Korean corporations must now endure in our domestic market. Unfortunately, they require greater expertise in areas where we have not been traditionally strong, such as marketing and communications.

Before concluding, many of you are probably thinking, this is all very nice, but what about Hanbo, the frugality sentiment arising in Korea within the current economic climate, and the situation surrounding our recently enacted labor law, which you have been reading about during recent months in the media.

While the focus of today's seminar is on how Korean firms and institutions can more effectively communicate with U.S. audiences, our report is entitled "Confronting Korea's Public Image" and I would be remiss if I did not spend a few moments commenting on these important issues. Please note, however, that at the conclusion of our luncheon today, Chairman Kim and I, Mr. Rabin and several other Korean representatives will be making ourselves available in this room to speak with any members of the media and other audience participants who would like to engage in a more extended one-on-one discussion over any of the issues that have been raised.

It is clear that the negative stories that have been appearing about Korea are not unique to our nation. One can draw many parallels in the experiences of the U.S. and other countries as well.

Every dynamic economy develops abnormalities and rigidities that must be addressed. The important issue is not so much that these cases develop, but in how they are resolved. The high profile of the Hanbo and more recent Sammi case, the trial of the former presidents and the way in which every detail of these cases is scrutinized by Korean regulators, and our judiciary and domestic and foreign media are indicative of how seriously we are taking these issues and of the determination of the Korean people that they not be repeated.

The critical point, however, especially in relation to our topic today, is that these issues tend to dominate external perceptions of Korea and to become exaggerated in importance, in part, because we have been so ineffective in communicating with the U.S. public and other external audiences. Let me close with a few remarks:

Korea is a free and open country, with a determination to develop the institutions, norms and practices consistent with our emergence as an advanced nation. Because our economic growth has been so rapid, economic achievements have tended to outpace the development of the accompanying institutions and the development of the skills and capabilities that we will need as we move toward the development of a global economy.

There is no question that these issues need to be addressed. It is essential to our long term development, and we are the ones who have the most to lose if we are not successful in achieving these objectives. This is the primary reason that FKI and KOCHAM sponsored this survey and it is why we have invited you here to work with us today.

Korea is an emerging democracy, with a free and open press and an independent judiciary. Our government, our corporations, and in fact our whole society are honestly attempting to deal with our problems and to move forward in a fair and equitable manner. Our objective is to move toward the development of an institutional and regulatory infrastructure that is consistent with our hard-earned economic status. Our long term development and future economic competitiveness depends upon it.

Will this take time? Most definitely. Will there be more bad news in the future? It is entirely possible. Will we get there eventually? I am certain of it.

Korea is currently in a state of economic transition. As Chairman Kim noted, it is likely that this transition will be more difficult than previous challenges, as it will focus on more abstract issues, such as those that I have mentioned, rather than the development of new industries, production technologies and processes, which have been the focuses of previous economic transitions in the past.

I would not bet against us. Despite the current economic downturn and the negative stories that have been appearing in the press, I have no doubt that over the long term, Korea's economy will emerge more competitive because of our willingness to confront and to deal with these problems. As one foreign analyst who has been following our country for over thirty years recently noted "If I had a dollar for every time I predicted the failure of the Korean economy, I would be a rich man today".

I invite our panel and all of you in the audience to work with us today in order that we might more effectively deal with these challenges.

Thank you.