Moody’s speaks on 2010 sovereign, financial and corporate outlooks for Korea

Hong Kong, September 15, 2009 -- Moody's Investors Service will discuss in 
detail its 2010 sovereign (currently stable) banking (currently negative) 
and corporate (also negative) outlooks in an investor conference to be 
held this week in Seoul. The briefing will be held in conjunction with 
Moody's affiliate, Korea Investors Service ("KIS").

"This is Moody's 7th annual conference with Korea Investors Service, and 
the third time we have come together in 2009 to present our views to the 
Korean market. We remain committed to working closely with our Korean 
partner, Korea Investors Service, and together supporting the growth of 
the Korean debt capital markets," says Jennifer Elliott, Moody's Group 
Managing Director, Asia Pacific.

Senior Moody's officials speaking at the briefings will be Jennifer
Elliott, Group Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Brian Cahill, Managing 
Director, Asia Corporate Finance Group, Jerry Chien, Managing Director, 
Asia Financial Institutions Group, and Tom Byrne, Senior Vice President, 
Asia Sovereign Group.

Senior officials from KIS speaking at the meetings will be Hyeok Keun
Yoo, CEO, Sun Dae Kim, Executive Vice President, Fundamental Rating 
Group, Hyun Soo Kim, Senior Vice President, Project Finance Group, and 
Kihyung Song, Executive Vice President, Chief Credit and Administration 
Officer.

Moody's notes that thanks to government willingness and ability to 
support the banking system against external exposure and to implement a 
timely fiscal stimulus program, Korea's sovereign credit fundamentals 
have proven resilient to the global recession and have maintained a 
stable ratings outlook throughout the credit crisis. The large fiscal 
stimulus program has helped to support domestic demand and will minimize 
the contraction in GDP growth this year. We expect GDP growth to recover 
to 3.0% in 2010, with medium-term growth estimated at 4.0-5.0%. 

Risks associated with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea have not 
constrained the A2 sovereign rating. Geopolitical risks did, however, 
contributed to the recent lowering of the local currency country ceiling 
to Aa1, although this was also carried out to re-align Korea's country 
ceiling to be more consistent with our global scale.

Moody's additionally identifies the volatile KRW/USD rate, the planned 
privatization or reform of several Korean financial institutions, and the 
effectiveness of banks' liquidity risk management and risk governance as 
key credit factors for the country's financial institutions.

Moody's notes that while most banks have boosted their capitalization
levels and the risk of a worsening operating environment has alleviated
(though tail risks remain), banks are reporting modest earnings due to 
net interest margin ("NIM") contraction and higher credit costs. They 
must also face continuing pressure on asset quality and the competitive 
threat presented by non-banking financial services companies.

While Moody's outlook for Korean corporate credits is currently negative, 
recent results for larger corporate issuers' have been encouraging due to 
improving domestic market conditions, competitiveness of Korean products 
abroad and the depreciating KRW -- though questions remain over the 
sustainability of these results.