KOREA PLANS TO OPEN MARKETS TO EASE WON PRESSURE South Korea will further open its market to help cut its trade surplus with the U.S. And to fight off pressure to revalue the won against the dollar, a government spokesman said. The spokesman said Korean trade minister Rha Woong-Bae's stand in Washington yesterday against pressure from industrial nations to revalue the won underlined the government's determination to stand firm. Rha told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce "Demands that Korea carry out a drastic and sudden currency revaluation of five or 10 pct are, I believe, extremely ill-advised." Deputy prime minister Kim Mahn-Je told a meeting of local businessmen "The government's policy on the question of revaluing the won is to maintain a steadfast position." Kim said South Korea was ready to move slowly to raise the won's value because of its heavy foreign debt which stood at 44.5 billion dlrs at the end of 1986. Six industrialised nations agreed in Paris last month that newly industrialising countries, such as South Korea and Taiwan, should allow their currencies to appreciate. But local businessmen have said won/dollar parity has already reached "a crisis level." An official of the Korea Traders' Association (KTA) said if the won strengthened another five pct, this would mean the loss of profitability for nearly half of all South Korean exporters. "We are determined not to go the way of Latin American debtor nations which have suspended interest payments of their debts," the spokesman said. "The only way to keep our good record is to maintain our exports.+ The trade minister said yesterday should Seoul revalue the won suddenly Korea would run "a tremendous trade deficit and could degenerate into a country, like many other developing countries, which is reneging on its international obligations." The spokesman said South Korea had been gradually appreciating its currency, ruling out a major revaluation. So far this year, the won has gone up by 0.8 pct against the dollar after a 3.34 pct revaluation in 1986. He said South Korea was selecting "many" of 122 items on which Washington recently asked Seoul to lower tariffs to help narrow its trade surplus with the U.S. No further details were given. Seoul announced in January the lifting of bans on 158 items, including sensitive agricultural products and large cars, effective from July. South Korea posted its first ever current account surplus last year, due largely to a trade surplus with the U.S. Of 7.1 billion dlrs, against a 4.3 billion deficit in 1985. It earlier forecast that its current account surplus could reach eight billion dlrs this year. But the government official said the surplus would be held at around five billion dlrs to avoid further pressure by industrialised nations to push up the value of its currency.