South Korea

The country co-hosted a conference with the International Monetary Fund on July 12, the Wall Street Journal says. The conference brought together experts to discuss the growing importance of Asia to the world economy. Several experts noted that the conference was also a bid to repair the IMF’s image in South Korea, where the aid it provided some 12 years ago is still controversial. The Washington-based lender imposed changes on the country’s economy in return for granting billions of dollars in loans to prevent default on its foreign debt.