Forex Market Transparency
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon said on April 5 that disclosure of forex market intervention history by the South Korean government has been examined for a long time and will not infringe upon its sovereignty in the foreign exchange market in any case.
The Deputy Prime Minister also explained that foreign exchange rate has nothing to do with South Korea’s and the United States’ recent negotiations regarding KORUS FTA revision and steel tariffs and that the United States is putting no pressure on the South Korean government with regard to the frequency of the disclosure. “Forex policy transparency is an issue that has been discussed for long in both the IMF and the G20, and our talks with the United States have never deviated from that framework,” he mentioned.
According to him, Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) member countries disclose their forex market intervention histories based on different frequencies, such as every quarter, every six months and every month, and the government is going to make an independent determination on the frequency of the disclosure in view of various forex market situations and national economic conditions.
He also stressed that South Korea’s foreign exchange policy will show little change even after the disclosure. “The basic ideas of the government’s foreign exchange policy will be maintained as they are, that is, minimum intervention and clear response to severe fluctuations,” he said.