A U.S. credit rating agency... Moody's Investors Service... will send a team of officials to Seoul on May 20th. The delegation will conduct a survey of the country's macroeconomic policies and the ongoing corporate and financial restructuring for a possible upgrading of the nation's sovereign credit rating.

Another team... Standard & Poor's... is also heading to Seoul in early June.

The delegations will meet officials of the Ministry of Finance and Economy, Financial Supervisory Commission, Ministry of Planning and Budget, and the Bank of Korea.

In its annual March report, Moody's maintained the country's sovereign rating at Baa-2 and placed the country's economic outlook at "stable."