Letter: IMF and debt policy

Sir: What confronts us in South Korea could be seen as two failed imports from the West, namely Communism and capitalism. The first is almost history and there's a lot to be said for dismantling the second.

The capitalist system has trapped us all in a vicious circle in which insatiability of demand has become an economic imperative, the alternative being collapse of production and loss of jobs. Hence the rumour is that the Koreans may flood the world with cheap exports to deal with their "over-capacity". Post-Kyoto, perhaps they can make a virtue out of necessity by offering us a glut of cut-price, low-energy light bulbs.

D W EVANS

Leeds