PRESS DIGEST - South Korean newspapers - Oct 6

SEOUL, Oct 6 (Reuters) - The following is a summary of major South Korean newspapers on Monday, prepared by Reuters in Seoul. Reuters has not checked the stories and does not guarantee their accuracy.

CHOSUN ILBO

South Korean banks have raised their annual interest rates for home loans to as high as ten percent in response to the recent economic crisis in the United States.

KOREA ECONOMIC DAILY

The amount foreign investors withdrew from South Korean stocks from June through September totaled $14.6 billion, the largest among major Asian markets, according to the Korea Center for International Finances.

MAEIL BUSINESS NEWSPAPER

SK Group is considering buying back a building in downtown Seoul from a consortium set up by Merrill Lynch & Co Inc MER.N and Shinhan Financial Group (055550.KS), according to a company source.

State-run Korea Development Bank (KDB), a top shareholder in Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co (042660.KS), would not sell the shipbuilder if bidders propose lower prices than expected, a company source said.

Harvard Business School plans to introduce a course on the Kaesong industrial complex, according to a government official.

DONG-A ILBO

North Korea might have suggested holding high-ranking military talks with the United States when top U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill visited North Korea, according to a diplomatic source.

The money paid by the South Korean government for sand extraction in North Korea, part of economic cooperation between the two countries, is being misappropriated into North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's slush fund, a South Korean lawmaker told the National Assembly.