Aid for S. Korea

While it seems appropriate to help South Korea, we should realize that we are now helping companies that are in direct competition with American firms.

The Korean car companies were built with government loans. So now the U.S. taxpayer is again helping the competition, both directly and as the majority funder of the International Monetary Fund.

If Hyundai and Kia cannot compete without government loans, why should we subsidize them? Many of the Korean loans are from Japanese banks. These two countries have policies of discouraging American imports. Before we give them a penny, we should obtain some real progress toward open and equal trade as part of the IMF stipulations.

ROBERT F. ROBERTSON

Hidden Hills