S Korean president calls for support for microcredit lending program

SEOUL, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Monday highlighted the nation's newly-launched microcredit lending program, calling on citizens to support the project.

The project, so-called Miso Financing, aims at helping working-class people who wish to stand on their own through providing low interest loans and other support, Lee said in his biweekly national radio address, adding that it is the core of his government's policies.

The program, launched last week, was formed by 2 trillion won (1.65 billion U.S. dollars), for which business groups donated 1 trillion won (820 million U.S. dollars).

"The project is an exemplary case in that it is the first time large business groups provided direct financing support to small- and medium-sized businesses," the president said.

"I hope the spirit of love, sharing, gratitude and harmony will spread throughout our society with the launch of this new program," the president said.

The South Korean first-ever governmental microcredit fund is aimed at benefiting cash-squeezed citizens, who are unqualified to borrow from major banks and thus forced to borrow from private lenders demanding high interest rates, the operator of the project, the Financial Services Commission (FSC), said upon its launch last week.

The plan calls for creating a new microcredit foundation whose sole job is distributing and coordinating microcredit operations based on the money donated by the companies, the FSC said.

The financial regulators also said they would help open up to 30 branches offering microcredit services and counseling from December of this year to May 2010.

Microcredit, originated from Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, refers to the extension of very small loans to cash-strapped individuals with business plans.

The president's speech, pre-recorded last week before the president flew to the United States, came amid the president's a seven-day trip to take part in the general assembly of the United Nations in New York and the G-20 economic summit in Pittsburgh.