"The idea was to create a space without using walls, " said the younger Mr. Lim, who designed the piece with Mr. Kim and Eddy Man Kim, their third partner who is planning to move to Hong Kong soon.

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It did not happen at the World Bank either: Washington leaned on the members of the developed world to back their man Jim Yong Kim, the former president of Dartmouth College.

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For his part, Kim Jin Man of Hanvit Bank is looking at the year 2000 to start making money - at least a 15% return on equity, compared with the minus 69.9% return in 1998.

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