The first point that should be made is that the praise which had been heaped on these countries for several decades is entirely understandable. These countries have been high savers, budgets have been balanced or in surplus, inflation has been reasonably well contained, and exports had been the dynamic driving-force of growth (with the globalisation that this implies).
They ran high current account deficits because, however much they were saving, they were investing even more. Who could, ex ante, have criticised the broad-brush developments in the financial sector? Open capital markets were a merit-badge of economic maturity and a requirement for entry into the industrial-nations’ economics club -- the OECD.