71.   The three banks are different from other Korean banks in that they have a relatively small tally of bad loans.

72.   The U.S. credit rating company also lowered the ratings of twenty Korean banks as well as Pohang, Korea Electric Power Corp. and seven other companies.

73.   These and other cash-strapped Korean companies owe billions of dollars to Korean banks that they may never repay.

74.   There are indications Korean banks have sufficient local currency funds, but dwindling foreign exchange reserves.

75.   They discussed details of a financing plan that would extend the maturities of loans from international banks to Korean banks by up to five years.

76.   They owe billions of dollars to Korean banks that they may never repay.

77.   They poured money into Russia thinking it was the next emerging market, and lent money to Korean banks that were financing shaky conglomerates.

78.   Those corporate failures pushed Korean banks into a precarious corner, sending their international credit standing sliding and making overseas borrowing more difficult.

79.   This would facilitate the acquisition of Korean banks such as Korea First Bank and SeoulBank, by foreign investors.

80.   Unfortunately, such concerns did not prevent Korean banks from raising capital cheaply and gambling it around the world on, among other things, Latin American bonds.