The Doa Motors sale spiraled from bad to worse.

The talk of the German automaker turning negative on the bidding soon hardened into outright withdrawal. With no domestic company left to acquire Doa Motors, word of the German firm pulling out threw the Korean market into disorder all over again.

The exchange rate and the stock market, which had been settling, lurched violently. The international credit-rating agency that had downgraded Korea to a single notch above junk-bond status now issued a comment saying it would reconsider raising the rating after watching the Doa Motors situation—indirectly making clear that Korea's foreign-exchange crisis was far from over.

The new government wore its alarm plainly, blindsided by a reef struck so soon after taking office. Talk even reached the press that President Dae-sang Kim had flown into a rage that the plan to reorganize the business world starting with Doa Motors had been derailed at the very first step.

Doa Motors' bankruptcy had now become a reality.

A professor who appeared on television offered a grave warning about what would follow.

—"If Doa Motors enters bankruptcy proceedings as things stand, it will clearly deal a serious blow to the Korean economy."

—"If it's serious, just how serious are you anticipating?"

—"We'll have to leave open the possibility that the won-dollar exchange rate breaks past its previous high."

—"Its previous high?"

Realizing the previous high meant 2,000 won, the host couldn't hide his shock, his face going pale. Because 2,000 won was the territory of national default.

The host hurriedly masked his agitation and said to the professor,

—"Is it that serious?"

—"It is."

The professor nodded and spoke with a hardened face.

—"Doa Motors has more than five hundred affiliated companies. And if you add the second- and third-tier firms attached to those affiliates, it comfortably exceeds several thousand. Add the workers employed there, and the families those workers support, and the livelihoods of several hundred thousand people ride on Doa Motors."

—"Several hundred thousand? My goodness… that's a grim number indeed."

—"That's not all. The regional economy where Doa Motors sits will…