OTHER NEWS - Oct. 12, 1996

S. Korea Invited to Join OECD: The announcement by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ends months of speculation over whether South Korea, now the world’s 11th-largest economy, is qualified to join the Paris-based grouping of the U.S., Germany, Japan and 25 other wealthy nations. There had been concern within the OECD over South Korea’s restrictions on foreign companies’ access to its financial markets and over its labor laws. Christian Schricke, chief OECD negotiator in the talks with Seoul, said no conditions were attached to the invitation but that peer pressure to open its financial markets further and to reform its labor laws will continue. An agreement will be signed between the organization and Seoul on Oct. 25. It then must be ratified by South Korea’s National Assembly.