Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World

by Adam Tooze

what was most effective in stopping the run against was help from the outside.19 On October 30 the Bank of Korea announced the opening of a $30 billion swap line with the Fed, allowing it to auction dollars in generous amounts. With the foreign exchanges no longer in panic mode, Seoul could set about restoring the banking sector. In early 2009 the South Korean government issued a further $55 billion in liquidity backstops for interbank lending and set aside $23 billion for restructuring banks and nonperforming loans. It then added a $7.8 billion bond market stabilization fund and a $31.3 billion fund for corporate restructuring. Meanwhile, President Lee was true to his nickname—“the Bulldozer”—kicking off 2009 with a gigantic construction program, budgeted at $94 billion over a four-year period.