Seoul, June 7: Things could not have been better for South Korean president Kim Dae-jung when he left for his first state visit to the United States to drum up new investment.The public threw its weight behind the popular 73-year-old head of state by handing the ruling coalition a lopsided victory in Thursday's local elections.On the eve of his Saturday departure, a militant labour group called off planned strikes, sounding a conciliatory note after nearly four months of fighting the government.But the widespread support carries a cost.Kim is expected to bring home billions of dollars in investments from his nine-day US trip and tackle economic reform as well as unemployment upon his return.Kim, who built foreign exchange reserves to a record $38.76 billion in May virtually from scratch, is hoping to bring back the glory days of one of Asia's tiger economies.His first priority on the trip will be to secure US support to overcome the country's financial crisis and lure new money into theflagging economy.North Korea will also be in focus, after Kim made clear he would support easing or lifting Washington's sanctions against Pyongyang.A 120-member Korean business delegation headed by commerce minister Park Tae-Young will travel to the United States at the same time in an effort to attract investment from the United States of America.Local papers said Kim was expected to agree over $5 billion worth of investments, including commitments from Intel, General Motors and Hewlett-Packard.Koreans looked to Kim to breathe life into a nation that narrowly escaped a national debt moratorium in December.Even feisty labour groups have given Kim a chance, swallowing the bitter pill of layoffs for the time being.The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions cancelled general strikes scheduled to start June 10 and agreed to join talks with government and business to resolve labour issues.Kim welcomed the union decision, calling it "a big present" ahead of his foreign trip.The electoralvictory and prospects for the US trip buoyed the stock exchange, where the composite index ended 3 per cent higher on Friday."The local election was a very important test for Kim, and the ruling party's victory will give him more confidence to pursue the needed reforms," said Rhee Namuh, head of research at Samsung Securities.Upon his return, Kim is expected to push ahead with swifteconomic restructuring mandated by the International Monetary Fund in exchange for nearly $60 billion in rescue funds.Foreigners, who led the Korean stock market's strongperformance early this year, have moved out en masse due to a loss of faith in the country's economic reform.In Kim's first 100 days in office, marked on Friday, the stock market has dived 33.9 per cent to 341.53 points.Kim told his senior party officials on Saturday that he would enforce reforms more forcefully when he got back.The first big step in corporate and financial reform is expected in the next couple of weeks as the government cuts offloans to non-viable companies and orders banks whose debts exceed their assets to close or merge.Kim himself has expressed dissatisfaction with the reforms undertaken so far by the country's corporate sector.Dan Harwood, regional director for Northeast Asia, ABN AmroAsia Ltd in Seoul, said Korea's time was running out."Kim should start to precipitate change. The evidence so far is not bad but we need to see action."
