SOUTH KOREA MOVES TO SLOW GROWTH OF TRADE SURPLUS South Korea's trade surplus is growing too fast and the government has started taking steps to slow it down, Deputy Prime Minister Kim Mahn-je said. He told a press conference the government planned to increase investment, speed up the opening of the local market to foreign imports and gradually adjust its currency to hold the surplus "at a proper level." But he said the government would not allow the won to appreciate too much in a short period of time. South Korea has been under pressure from Washington to revalue the won. The U.S. Wants South Korea to cut its trade surplus with the U.S., Which rose to 7.4 billion dlrs in 1986 from 4.3 billion dlrs in 1985. Kim, who is also economic planning minister, said prospects were bright for the South Korean economy, but the government would try to hold the current account surplus to around five billion dlrs a year for the next five years. "Our government projections of eight pct GNP growth, five billion dlrs of (current account) surplus and 12 pct growth in exports all seemed to be reasonable early this year. But now the surplus is growing faster than we expected," he said. Trade ministry officials said South Korea's exports rose 35 pct to 9.34 billion dlrs in the first three months of this year, while imports rose only 8.5 pct to 8.2 billion dlrs. Kim said the swing of South Korea's current account to a surplus of 4.65 billion dlrs in 1986 from an 890 mln dlr deficit in 1985 was very significant. The surplus enabled the country to reduce its foreign debt last year for the first time. South Korea's foreign debt, which fell to 44.5 billion dlrs in 1986 from 46.8 billion in 1985, is still among the largest in Asia. "This huge amount of our foreign debt has been one of the major constraints on our development... Last year was a major turning point for the Korean economy," Kim said. Kim said his government plannned to reduce the ratio of foreign debt to the country's GNP to about 20 pct in 1991, from about 50 pct in 1986. "The government, however, does not want to accelerate reducing the debt by making an excessive trade surplus," he said. Kim said a sudden rise in the surplus would cause inflation and lead to trade friction with Seoul's major trading partners, particularly the United States. "We need a surplus because we have to reduce our debt, but we are taking measures to hold the size of the surplus at a proper level," Kim said.