On November 21st, 1997 then-deputy economic minister Lim Chang-yuel announced that Korea had applied for emergency rescue funds from the International Monetary Fund. The country’s debt amounted to 120 billion dollars and Korea had only 30 billion dollars in reserve due to aggressive business expansions by conglomerates. The Korean stock market plunged, currency exchange rates soared, and many of Korea's top companies went bankrupted. Those that survived the worst had to downsize and lay off countless workers. It wasn’t just the Korean economy that was hurt, but the Korean people’s pride and self-esteem suffered big blows as well. Nonetheless, Koreans did not despair but turned the crisis into an opportunity. Koreans banded together, determine to raise enough money to pay back the IMF rescue loans and put the economy back on track. Although it pained the country to do so, it fixed the outdated, inefficient economic structure and rebuilt the momentum for growth. Now the world remembers Korea as the most exemplary case of overcoming an economic crisis.