Belarusian Journal of International Law and International Relations 2002 — N 2
Summaries
International Law
Human Rights
A Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union: Two Steps Forwards and One Backwards in the European Integration Process — Tatiana Ushakova
International Protection of National Minorities Rights: Historical Aspect — Natalia Katko
International Organizations
International Conferences and the ad hoc Diplomacy: Concepts, Structure and Legal Regime — Alexandr Burian
International Labour Organization Conventions: Mechanisms of Implementation and Application Control — Vladimir Statsenko
Monitoring the Implementation of Treaties Adopted by the Council of Europe — Larisa Lukina
Documents and Materials
Statelessness in Belarus: a Sociological Portrait — Larisa Vasilieva
Bookshelf
Urgent Issues of Human Rights Science Formation — Leonid Yevmenov
International Relations
The European Union Enlargement Towards the East in the 1990s — Elena Dostanko
Information Disparity in the Middle East and Central Asia: Myths and Reality — Roza Turarbekova
Gaullism as a National Security Model of France — Alexandr Dudo
Global Problems: Typology and Interconnection — Vitaly Voronovich
Belarusian-Polish Trade and Economic Relations During the Period of 1923—1939 — Valery Tsynkevich
International Protection of the Rights of the Child in the Contemporary World — Alexandra Robul
Bilateral Relations Between Belarus and Latvia in Political, Commercial and Economic Spheres (1991—2001) — Nadezhda Khalimanovich
Documents and Materials
Belarusian-Russian Relationship Issues (on the 5th Round-Table Discussion Results) (only russian)
International Economic Relations
The Future of the High Technologies World Market — Anatoly Belorusov, Vlevolod Vovchenko
Internet Technologies in International Trade of the Republic of Belarus and Methods of their Efficiency Estimation — Sergey Shebeko
Strategic Directions in Transport Development in the Belarus-Russia Union State — Nikita Kuchevsky
Evolution of Relations Between Trade and Industrial Conglomerations and the Government in South Korea — Gil Kun Suk
FULL ISSUE 
English Summaries
"A Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union: Two Steps Forwards and One Backwards in the European Integration Process" (Tatiana Ushakova)
The article reflects the author’s personal interpretation of the Document’s significance for the European Union. Briefly, two steps forwards lays an emphasis on the importance of the Charter as such, making the fundamental rights more visible to the Union’s citizens, and one step backwards means its undetermined legal status.
The study is divided into four sections: Objectives, Particularities, Content and Legal Status and Relation Between the Charter and Other Rules of Fundamental Rights. There are also an Introduction and Conclusions.
In the first section three main Charter’s objectives are stressed: the visibility of the fundamental rights, which is a principal one, the legal security that should be provided by such a catalogue and the necessity of firm grasp for both European Union member States and candidate States.
The second section concerning the particularities analyzes the Body authorized to elaborate the text of the Charter and its methods of work. Then some features of structure and principles are mentioned. The structure of the Charter is organized in such a way that all the chapters include different categories of fundamental rights according to the most important legal values. This kind of the Charter organization is based upon the general principles of the human rights indivisibility and universality.
Nevertheless, these principles do not posses the absolute character. Numerous exceptions emerge from the concrete rights concepts. Thus, the third section deals with some fundamental rights categories and their sources in the International Law, European Law and State practice. Special attention is paid to the economic and social rights and to the so-called "new" rights.
Finally, the fourth section concerns the issues of application. Despite the Charter’s explicit legal binding importance, the more considerable problem of application appeared from the relations between the Charter’s provisions and other international rules about fundamental rights. Therefore, there are some contradictions and ambiguity in the Charter dispositions touching its concordance with the Rome Convention (ECHR) and the EU and EC Treaties.
It is vital that the Charter becomes a part of the EU Treaty because of its coherence with the European Union Law. The EU independent system of the fundamental rights protection should be created.
"International Protection of National Minorities Rights: Historical Aspect" (Natalia Katko)
The article examines the history of emergence of international regulation of national minorities status. The author considers that it is expedient to introduce the following period categorization: 1) the period before the establishment of the League of Nations; 2) the period of minorities protection within the League of Nations framework. The author believes that the study of international legal regulation of the national minorities status could help to avoid errors in developing universal international treaties aimed to regulate the minorities status in different states.
On the basis of the research of the formation of the national minorities protection mechanism the author comes to the following conclusions.
1. Emergence of the legal norms providing minorities protection beginning with the XVI century testifies to the fact that even in those times the states already realized the importance of the of the solution of the given issue; however, minorities protection could not become a binding legal norm or principle (even for the states participating in the treaty) because of the uncorrelated interests of the states.
2. International recognition of the minorities rights created conditions for the interference into internal affairs of another state under the pretext of the minorities protection and could become an efficient instrument for pressure on the state policy.
3. Universal international practice of protection of both national and language minorities rights emerged on the basis of international protection of religious minorities rights which was conventionally fixed later, especially in the second part of the XIX century.
4. International treaty guarantees of the period under study did not bear collective character; despite the fact that several states could act as guarantors, the right to supervise observation of the obligation was given to only one of them as a rule. Due to this, international guarantees of minorities rights protection had a purely declarative nature.
5. The agreements on minorities lack the control mechanism, each state had a right to define independently the volume of their obligations and their interpretation; this leading to weakening or absence of the international guarantees on real minorities protection. There was no mechanism of legal pressure on violators of certain obligations in case a certain obligation relating to minorities was not observed or a certain state did not report the measures undertaken towards minorities according to the international obligations.
6. A minorities rights protection system set up in the framework of the League of Nations was qualitatively and significantly better compared to the previous period of international relations, however, the norms contained in the international treaties on minorities protection did not become universal though they laid down the foundations of the international legal norms regulating minorities status in international law.
7. International agreements on national minorities did not envisage national minorities rights protection as a community, but fixed the rights of separate individuals in connection with their ethnic origin, language or religion. Although the treaties declared the rights to cultural and social development of ethnic minorities, they did not provide for the possibility of creation and further development of a national state by a minority nor did they contain any criteria of classifying a certain individual as a minority member.
Vague formulations in the agreements on minorities prove the fact that their creators had no clear principles or defined basis to build minorities protection upon, which eventually gave rise to many disputes in interpreting treatment of the agreement provisions and to possibilities for governments’ abuse.
"International Conferences and the ad hoc Diplomacy: Concepts, Structure and Legal Regime" (Alexandr Burian)
The article explores legal aspects of one of diplomatic law institutions — the ad hoc diplomacy.
The study involves the concepts and main elements of the institution of international conferences and also the changes this institution has undergone since World War II as far as their structure and methods of convening them are concerned. Convening the conferences has become simpler due to their periodic character, delegations are formed on the principles of democracy and representation, conferences are prepared by steering committees, the executive and working bodies of the conferences and voting procedures have been substantially modified, and so on.
The author suggests classifying conferences according to several criteria, depending on general and operational aims and objectives, the field of activities of the participants, their rank, the forms of organisation and holding of the conference, etc.
A special place is given in the article to the procedure rules and organisational forms of the international conferences work.
The article throws light on some issues of the ad hoc diplomacy emergence. The term itself was first used in 1960 by the UN International Law Commission within the framework of the discussions of the XI-th Commission of the UN General Assembly.
The Commission identified 3 categories of the ad hoc diplomacy: a) international conferences delegations; b) temporary envoys (government delegations with the mandate to carry out a mission in many countries); c) special missions (temporary missions of representative government character, sent by one state to another with the latter’s consent to discuss certain issues or implementing a certain mission).
Any delegate who is not a member of a permanent diplomatic mission belongs to the ad hoc diplomats. The category may include:
a) heads of state, heads of governments, foreign ministers and other government members on an official visit;
b) ambassadors or temporary envoys;
c) ad hoc diplomats — members of special missions sent to participate in official ceremonies;
d) diplomat ad hoc — a courier;
e) secret emissaries;
f) confidential observers;
g) observers and delegates at conferences and other international meetings;
h) executive and political agents;
i) the group accompanying the head of state;
The ad hoc diplomacy cases are studied under the doctrine, due to the fact that no general rules have been formed in this area and there is no code of laws regulating this activity, except for special missions which are part of ad hoc diplomacy.
"International Labour Organization Conventions: Mechanisms of Implementation and Application Control" (Vladimir Statsenko)
The analysis of interaction of the Republic of Belarus and the ILO — a special agency of the UN that is established to "assist labour and employers organizations in their cooperation with governments in regulating social and labour relations" has both theoretical and practical importance. The Republic of Belarus has been a permanent member of the ILO since 1954 (with the exception of 1998) and has assumed international legal obligations following from the ILO Charter in the sphere of provision of social and labour standards, including social partnership standards; the success in realization of these norms determines the fate of the agency.
The law-making experience in the conditions of an organization with a tripartite structure contributes to the realization of the social partnership policy on the national level. A series of Conventions and the ILO recommendations in the aggregate create a single system of legal provision of social partnership and serve as a legal basis for organization of an efficient system of social partnership. Though a significant part of the most important ILO Conventions (49 conventions as of 01.01.2002) has been ratified by the Republic of Belarus and the basic principles and norms of the tripartite conference fixed in these Conventions and recommendations are reflected in the legislation of the Republic of Belarus, some problems remain, as Belarusian legislation does not comply with the ILO Conventions in some of the parameters or falls behind in legal requirements. Some of the most important ILO Conventions — No. 135 and No. 158 have not been ratified yet. The conventions standards and, especially the ILO recommendations have not been fully implemented into national acts pertaining to social and labour relations. Absence of provisions in the constitutional implementation mechanism on the international law norms priority over national laws, the unadjusted mechanism of interpretation and international norms application set the possibility of their direct action at nought.
Providing technical assistance is one of the main activities of the ILO. Cooperation of the ILO and the Republic of Belarus in this sphere has become more active since the end of the 1990s with the adoption of the Programme of Cooperation between the ILO and the Republic of Belarus in 1998.
Recently the ILO has been attaching special importance to the supervision of its conventions and recommendations application. According to the archive study on interaction of the ILO and the Republic of Belarus, the supervison of application of the ILO Conventions standards in Belarus has been constant and regular.
The author concludes that this article can not fully explore the diverse issues of the ILO and the Republic of Belarus cooperation. Nevertheless, the presented issues are extremely significant and the full realization of basic principles of social partnership envisaged by the ILO Conventions on the national level including the Republic of Belarus case depends on their solution to a great extent.
"Monitoring the Implementation of Treaties Adopted by the Council of Europe" (Larisa Lukina)
The article explores in detail the control mechanism for the fulfilment in good faith the obligations assumed by the member states in accordance with the treaties concluded within the Council of Europe. The author presents the classification of the bodies competent to fulfil the task of monitoring the implementation of treaties elaborated within the Organization. All bodies responsible for the monitoring activity may be divided into judicial organs and non-judicial organs. Judicial organs competent to solve all disputes relating to the interpretation and application of the Council of Europe treaties include both universal judicial organs (the International Court of Justice) and regional judicial organs (the European Court of Human Rights, arbitration courts), established in accordance with provisions of the treaties adopted by the Council of Europe. It is important to stress, that a tendency to confer judicial functions on the European Court of Human Rights, rather than on the International Court of Justice with its universal jurisdiction, is clearly discernible. This is further confirmed by the fact that of more than 170 conventions concluded at the emergence of the organization only 4 provide for the possibility to apply to the International Court of Justice. Moreover, the competence of the European Court of Human Rights has tended recently to be extended to other conventions concluded within the Council of Europe.
Non-judicial organs entrusted with the task of examining the functioning and implementation of treaties elaborated within the Organization could be classified on the basis of their legal nature: a) steering committees and other committees set up under Article 17 of the Statute of the Council of Europe (for example, the European Committee on Crime Problems) and b) various committees set up directly under a treaty (for example, the Standing Committee of the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and natural Habitats, 1979). Further classification can be made in accordance with the subject of a treaty. The existing committees regularly monitor the application of most treaties, which regulate the appropriate spheres of intergovernmental activity. Thus, the European Committee on Crime Problems is responsible for conventions in the field of criminal law. The Steering Committee of Local and Regional Democracy is competent as far as the implementation of the European Charter of Local Self-Government (1985) and the European Outline Convention on Transfrontier Co-operation between Territorial Communities or Authorities (1980) is concerned.
The European Committee on Social Integration observes the implementation of the treaties which determine the social policy of the member-states. These committees and commissions are quite efficient within their mandate. Moreover, as the example of the Committee on the Prevention of Torture under the Council of Europe testifies they possess a more extended mandate than similar universal control bodies, which undoubtedly raises the prestige of the European system of Human Rights
"Statelessness in Belarus: a Sociological Portrait" (Larisa Vasilieva)
The article presents the results of the research on the Belarusian regime of stay of stateless individuals who come from the former Soviet states: it gives demographic characteristics of stateless persons living in Belarus, reveals reasons of their change of place of stay and outlines the problems connected with the migrants’ current residence on Belarusian territory.
The author puts forward suggestions for improving the mechanism of legal regulation of migrational processes in the Republic of Belarus.
"Urgent Issues of Human Rights Science Formation" (Leonid Yevmenov)
In 1978 under the auspices of the UNESCO in Paris there was published "International Human Rights Dimensions". The most important idea is expressed in its foreword: "A contemporary human rights phenomenon urgently requires a true human rights science to be developed, its objectivity and austerity being a human rights independence guarantee as related to any school of thinking and any interpretation of reality".
Since then under the UN patronage there has been achieved a significant advance in human rights education. The social sciences and the humanities have contributed greatly to the development in this sphere.
Belarusian social and humanitarian sciences have not lagged behind either. This fact speaks for the beginning of the process of the active understanding of the problem, its conceptual apparatus being developed, scientific and pedagogical knowledge being accumulated. It also means that it is high time to determine THE PROPERTY OF THE VERY PROCESS.
After analysing a number of Belarusian studies, the article defines their major drawbacks as certain theoretical insufficiency and lack of investigation culture. Besides, it is indicated in the article that the human rights science advance is impeded by a number of general problems of science and education management and information resources.
What is the contemporary answer to the question of the human rights science formation as an independent science? It would be correct to say that human rights is a branch of knowledge which is developing in a fast yet still chaotic way and will give birth to a human rights science. All signs of a mature science are present today in our human rights knowledge in a form of separate and logically disconnected elements. But for the knowledge to become a science, these separate elements are to be ordered in a strict, logically correct and adequate system, which demands further conceptual development of the human knowledge field.
"The European Union Enlargement Towards the East in the 1990s" (Elena Dostanko)
The EU enlargement in the 1990s due to the inclusion of Central and Eastern European countries is becoming one of the priority directions of the development of the most significant European organisation. Over this decade the EU summits adopted the decisions determining the enlargement strategy. The decision to enlarge the EU by 2004 through the accession of Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovakian Republic, the Czech Republic and Slovenia revealed the existing contradictions both among the EU member states and among the candidate countries, as well as of the EU citizens‘ controversial attitude to the event. The enlargement is called upon to promote the EU’s development and strengthening. On the one hand the new members are bound to make it diverse and varied, on the other, the enlargement should not be carried out at the expense of the Union’s achievements. This is reflected in the current conception of European integration as a unity of the processes of deepening and expansion.
"Information Disparity in the Middle East and Central Asia: Myths and Reality" (Roza Turarbekova)
The issues of information and communication potential of the developing countries is one of the pressing international problems as the XXI century is an era of a new type of disparity — the information disparity.
The author stresses the obvious necessity of the study of the problem from a diversified angle. The article explores not so much the problem of the informationally rich North and poor South, but also the possibilities and restrictions of "Western" propaganda in the region.
The author reveals the potential of such communication media as: the radio, television and Internet on the basis of quantitative data of 20 countries of the region.
The author comes to unexpected conclusions regarding development factors of information and communication potential of the region states. The most interesting conclusion is that the economic factor is not always the determining one. The author makes a valuable statement concerning the influence of the "Western" propaganda and introduces a new notion of "the ratio of extensive influence of a certain communication type".
"Gaullism as a National Security Model of France" (Alexandr Dudo)
The author aims to analyze the policy of France in the military political sphere since 1991. He attempts to reveal the origins and causes of the current foreign policy of one of the leading European states which claims the leading role in the European integration process. The author believes that political elite in France holds in general to the conceptual provisions of military political doctrine of General de Gaulle. At the same time, modern Gaullists have substantially revised the approach to the development of military component of the European security system. France traditionally attempts to compensate the lacking economic potential by active independent diplomacy. The idea of France’s grandeur remains the primacy of its national interests.
"Global Problems: Typology and Interconnection" (Vitaly Voronovich)
The article focuses on global problems of mankind at its current stage of development. Here, the author turns to the history of emergence of the notion and analyses causation and consequences of a range of the most important global problems (non-proliferation of mass destruction weapons, widening of the gap between more developed and less developed states, ecology crises etc.) and their direct or indirect influence on the world community in the XX century. The article also reflects some completely new problems that have acquired global nature and are fraught with nearly the same destructive consequences in the XXI century — terrorism and growing drug addiction. The author ties up the solution of the given problems with real security strengthening on all levels both on the world and regional/national scale and forecasts apocalypse unless they are resolved.
“Belarusian-Polish Trade and Economic Relations During the Period of 1923—1939” (Valery Tsynkevich)
After the peace treaty of 1921 Poland became the first foreign market opened for the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. The trade rapidly developed mainly because of industrial production paucity in the Soviet republics. Poland took the share of up to 85 % of the BSSR foreign trade. The republic exported raw materials (mostly agricultural products and timber) and imported consumer goods and industrial products. Polish tradesmen maintained transit trade buying Belarusian raw materials and selling them to the Western Europe. Therefore the establishment of direct ties with Germany and Great Britain resulted in a sharp decline of the trade volume in the middle of the 1920s.
The BSSR also used its border trade with Poland for reselling the consumer goods further east. The republic quickly rebuilt the transit routes (railways, rivers and channels); however the problem of free transit was not completely solved up to the Second World War and trade was partially rerouted to Latvia.
There were no concessions or joint ventures established in the BSSR by Polish businessmen, although several attempts have been made. The reasons were the geopolitical position of BSSR as the westernmost republic and constant political tension in the Soviet-Polish relations and also the weakness of Polish business.
Centralization of import and export operations in the USSR in 1930s led to further orientation of trade not to the neighbouring Poland but to the developed countries of the West. With industrialization the structure of Belarusian foreign trade also changes, the percentage of the industrial products increases.
"International Protection of the Rights of the Child in the Contemporary World" (Alexandra Robul)
Human rights are an inalienable inherent right of every person from their birth. The respect of human rights and freedoms is viewed as an index of the development of the society.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted in 1989 by the UN General Assembly and come into force a year later, profoundly changed the world’s treatment of children. Like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention articulated something fundamental about humanity’s sense of itself and acted as a watershed and reference point for future generations. Seen through the Convention’s provisions, the child is an active and contributing member of a family, community and society.
Announcement to build a Global Movement for Children in 1999 was a beginning of great changes. This worldwide movement aims to unite all those who believe that the rights of children must be a priority. It is a movement that is gathering the kind of momentum and moral force that politicians ignore at their peril. One of the main goals of the movement was to prepare people throughout the world with the help of campaign "Say Yes for Children" to the Special Session on Children. Built on 10 imperative actions and responsibilities, the campaign was determined to deliver the clear and unmistakable message that the citizens of the world care about children and expect governments to keep the promises they make to them.
In May 2002, world leaders: Government leaders, Heads of State, NGOs, children’s advocates and children themselves, focused their attention on young people as the UN General Assembly hosted Special Session on Children. Participants reviewed the progress that had been made over the years since the last World Summit for Children in 1990 and worked out an agreement on the critical actions that will be taken over the next decade on behalf of children.
"Bilateral Relations Between Belarus and Latvia in Political, Commercial and Economic Spheres (1991—2001)" (Nadezhda Khalimanovich)
The article studies bilateral relations between Belarus and Latvia in political, commercial and economic spheres in the period of 1991—2001.
It gives the characteristics of fundamental instruments of bilateral cooperation such as: the Declaration on Principles of Neighbourly Relations (16.12.1991), the Treaty on Delimitation of the State Border (21.2.1994), the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Principles of Commercial and Economic Cooperation (21.2.1994), the Agreement on Promotion and Security of Investments (3.3.1998), the Agreement on Avoiding Double Taxation and Prevention of Income Tax Avoidance (18.7.1995).
The article pays attention to official contacts and also inter-parliamentary relations between Belarus and Latvia.
The article analyses commercial and economic links between Belarus and Latvia and presents a table of trade turnover of both states within the 1995—2001 period. It reflects cooperation between juridical entities of both states and the activities of the Bilateral Commercial and Economic commission of Belarus and Latvia established according to the Protocol to the Agreement on the Commercial and Economic Cooperation between the two states.
The paper also reveals some political and economic issues that create difficulties in bilateral relations between Belarus and Latvia.
"The Future of the High Technologies World Market" (Anatoly Belorusov, Vlevolod Vovchenko)
Development of new technologies will determine the future economic progress. It is the innovations that are the main constituent of the production efficiency growth, therefore they can usher in a new era in the economic development of any country. The study of the relevant literature resources showed gaps in the exploration of this problem despite its relevance. In this connection, the article aims to research the basic trends in high technologies world market development.
A number of important aspects are pointed out in the basic trends of the above-mentioned development.
Information technologies play a key role in the high tech sphere. Progress in the area of the information technologies creates the products that allow to get the most prompt and complete information on any subject. Today one should be able to orient oneself in the flow of incoming information and pick out the most important data for maintaining one’s personal professional competitiveness.
The establishment and improvement of technopark and technopolis systems is an important factor in the development of high tech sector in world economy. Special foundations are required to finance scientific technical projects, creation of consulting structures that give assistance to the innovation companies in finding and dealing with foreign partners. The databases on new projects could also assist sellers and customers in making connection.
Authors believe that further worldwide improvement of the educational system is laying down the basis for the innovation sphere development. Today the concept of continuing education and retraining of labour force is becoming popular.
Authors outline three most prominent centres of high technologies (the USA, Japan, Western Europe) that have emerged and mainly compete in the high tech sphere thus stimulating the economic progress.
"Internet Technologies in International Trade of the Republic of Belarus and Methods of their Efficiency Estimation" (Sergey Shebeko)
The article explores the issues of the efficient use of the Internet technologies in international trade by the Republic of Belarus and reviews the current world E-Commerce.
The author describes the main advantages of the world e-commerce compared with the traditional one, gives a mathematical instrument for measuring the introduction efficiency of the Internet technologies on the basis of the web-server in the international trade of the Republic of Belarus. The article also explains the reasons for Belarus falling behind in the introduction of virtual technologies and systems into its international trade.
"Strategic Directions in Transport Development in the Belarus-Russia Union State" (Nikita Kuchevsky)
Integration of transport of Russia and Belarus into a single transport system is one of the main targets in creation of a single Union State. The transport system of the Union State must provide efficiency growth of current production potential, its modernization and reconstruction, competitiveness on the world and European markets of transportation services; it should also contribute to the solution of social and economic issues of Belarus and Russia.
"Evolution of Relations Between Trade and Industrial Conglomerations and the Government in South Korea" (Gil Kun Suk)
A unique characteristic of Korean modern economy is trade and industrial groups (TIGs) testifying to a high level of industrial monopolization. Chebols are multibranch conglomerations of industrial companies with specialized trade companies providing sales strategies. In contrast to financial and industrial groups, chebols do not include banks and other financial and credit institutions. As for their relations with the government, it is chebols in the first place which hold the responsibility to realize macro- and foreign economic policy of the state, to be more precise — the plans of economic development. Another specific feature is that Korean TIGs are based on family capital. Therefore it is not surprising that Korean researchers characterize chebols as "groups of formally independent companies in certain families’ ownership and under single administrative and financial control".
The relations between the government and chebols can be characterized as partnership. In the 1960s the government gave substantial subsidies to chebols contributing to their monopolistic concentration. In the 1970s the state gave massive support, orienting them to accelerated development in heavy and chemical industries. In the 1980s it directed their business activity to rapid widening of export potential and expansion to the international sales market. During this period private exporters got access to large credit resources at low rates. This opportunity increased their possibility to buy foreign equipment and other resources for export production and to reduce business risks and uncertainty in their commercial activity. As a result of the state support chebols started to play the key role in the industrial development and to dominate in the national economy of South Korea. Chebols growth happened greatly due to the realization of the state programmes of import substitution and large-scale construction and to the cost benefits system with state support: chebols got nearly 75 % of bank loans to the private sector in late 1970s—early 1980s.
The middle of the 1990s revealed large creditor indebtedness and low profitability of many investment projects. In 1996 twenty of 30 biggest chebols had a rate of profit to the invested capital lower than cost of capital. As a result, in the end of the 1990s the government and the IMF developed a programme of corporate and financial business restructuring. The IMF rendered urgent financial aid to South Korean economy and the governmental commission on business rehabilitation in 1998—2000 implemented the given state programme. The role of the biggest chebols in South Korean economy remains dominant. Therefore the government of the new president Kim Dae-jung pursues astringent policy aimed at the restriction of economic power and concentration of capital of conglomerates.