From October 1997 to January 1998, the economy of South Korea was in turmoil. One of the problems was:

	The value of the won fell by more than half compared to the U.S. dollar, making U.S. goods very expensive to Koreans and Korean goods relatively inexpensive for U.S. residents
	U.S. goods became very cheap to Koreans making it difficult for Korean manufacturers to compete with imports
	The currency of South Korea appreciated considerably making it very difficult for Korean exporters to sell goods abroad