The terrorist attacks on the United States last month will cause economic hardship across North America, but experts discussing the outlook for east Asia's major economies at the Brookings Institution-Keizai Koho Center Regional Forum were divided on the knock-on impact here.
Kyung-Won Kim, president of the Seoul Forum and former ambassador to the United States, was the most pessimistic on the prospects for his country's economic well-being.
"The South Korean economy was doing quite well before Sept. 11," he said, pointing out how it had recovered after the Asian crisis of 1997-'98. But growth has since fallen considerably and there are fears that it could be as low as zero percent in the third quarter.