INTERNATIONAL

South Korea to Open Bourse to Foreigners: South Korea announced that it would open its $115-billion stock market to direct but limited foreign investment on Jan. 3, becoming the last of the major Asian bourses to embrace liberalization. Several brokers expected South Korean economic planners to put the opening off until the end of January in the hopes of buying more time for the sagging market to climb out of the doldrums. Although the market opening has been more than 10 years in the planning, South Korean planners show few signs of shaking off their “softly, softly” approach to liberalization.