By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter

The Lee Myung-bak administration is considering setting up a team that will help foreign media and investors get a better understanding of the country's economic situation, Prime Minister Han Seung-soo said Wednesday.

The move reflects complaints among some senior officials that ``malicious and incorrect'' reporting by some foreign media about the country's financial health has hurt confidence among global investors in the Korean economy, officials said.

``Not all foreign media speak ill of Korea's economy. There are also many good stories,'' Han said at an economic policy coordination meeting between top policymakers and the governing Grand National Party (GNP) at his residence in Seoul.

``However, we need to set up a team to promote our policies among global investors and help the world better understand the country's economic situation.''

The administration has reacted nervously to negative reporting by some newspapers as a sense of crisis has been growing here amid falling stock prices and a deepening liquidity shortage.

The Ministry of Strategy and Finance released a rare statement on Oct. 20 criticizing the Financial Times over its reports about the country's deteriorating financial conditions.

``The paper described Korea's financial situation wrongly with incomplete and biased information,'' the statement said.

In an article titled ``Sinking Feeling'' published on Oct. 14, the newspaper said, ``Like the U.S., its consumers and companies have taken on too much debt. Like banks in the U.S. and U.K., Korean lenders rely on wholesale markets for funding, and with global credit markets clammed up, they are left in the same position: between a rock and a hard place.''

The administration has announced a series of measures, including tax cuts and bailouts for local banks, to calm jittery investors, but the situation has not improved. An increasing number of politicians have called for President Lee to overhaul his economic team, led by Strategy and Finance Minister Kang Man-soo.

At the policy coordination meeting, Han called for the need to take preemptive steps to minimize the negative impact the financial crisis will have on domestic consumption and exports, according to his office.

GNP chief policymaker Lim Tae-hee, Financial Services Commission Chairman Jun Kwang-woo and Strategy and Finance Vice Minister Kim Dong-soo attended the meeting.

jj@koreatimes.co.kr