SOUTH KOREA'S GNP PLEDGES RESPONSIBLE FISCAL POLICIES, TAX CUTS.

SEOUL, Dec 2 Asia Pulse - The Grand National Party (GNP) is pledging sweeping reforms designed to enhance responsible fiscal policies and broad tax cuts for businesses as it competes in the presidential race scheduled for December 19.

The largest party in the National Assembly said over the weekend that one of its top priorities will be to pass a bill that would reduce government debt that has ballooned following the 1997 IMF crisis, and implement measures that will allocate money based on merit and results.

Policy-makers responsible for economic policy said that "fiscal management plans" will be released every 3-5 years that examines where taxpayers money had been spent and where it might be spent.

The GNP claimed that such measures will make it possible to reduce wasteful, pork-barrel spending and give government officials more leeway and opportunity to exercise discretion in using state funds.

Lee Hoi-chang, the GNP's presidential hopeful, is expected to push for tighter monitoring of public funds during the campaign trail and promise accountability for the 157 trillion won that has gone into weak financial firms and corporations in the past few years.

"We will revamp the way government controls money and carry out changes in accounting that are not only transparent but meet international guidelines, which in turn will allow more foreign investor to come to Korea," said an economic expert at the Yoido Research Institute, a GNP think tank.

Other measures being advocated is the reorganization of the Ministry of Finance and Economy (MOFE), the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), while giving full autonomy to the Bank of Korea (BOK) to control inflationary pressures.