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South Korea and Japan agreed to end the bilateral currency swap agreement that has been maintained since 2001, the Finance Ministry said Monday.
According to the Korean ministry, the $10 billion swap arrangement between the Bank of Korea and the Bank of Japan will expire on Feb. 23 as scheduled.
The pact was originally set up in July 2001, with the total that can be swapped being expanded at one time to $70 billion.
But it said authorities from the two countries would cooperate in an appropriate manner as the need arises.
A Bank of Korea official told Reuters that the agreement had been made as the situation in financial markets in both countries was “good” and that political tensions between South Korea and Japan were not included in the discussions to end the currency swap agreement.
The finance ministers of the two countries will meet on May 23 in Tokyo to discuss outstanding issues, the Korean ministry said, according to Yonhap.
The last time the two ministers met formally in a bilateral setting was in November 2012, before increased antipathy in South Korea over territorial matters and Japan’s whitewashing of its past colonial and wartime atrocities.
In October last year, Korean Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan met his Japanese counterpart, Taro Aso, on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund-World Bank meeting in Washington. At the time, both men concurred on the need to hold dedicated talks at the earliest possible date.
Yonhap reported that no agenda has been set for the official meeting between the two countries, although media reports from Tokyo speculated the finance ministers could address their efforts if the United States hikes it key rates as expected later this year.
Any move by the U.S. Federal Reserve to raise rates could bring about market volatility and adversely affect certain financial markets in Asia and developing economies. The two ministers could discuss economic and fiscal conditions facing both countries, the source said.
From news reports
According to the Korean ministry, the $10 billion swap arrangement between the Bank of Korea and the Bank of Japan will expire on Feb. 23 as scheduled.
The pact was originally set up in July 2001, with the total that can be swapped being expanded at one time to $70 billion.
But it said authorities from the two countries would cooperate in an appropriate manner as the need arises.
A Bank of Korea official told Reuters that the agreement had been made as the situation in financial markets in both countries was “good” and that political tensions between South Korea and Japan were not included in the discussions to end the currency swap agreement.
The finance ministers of the two countries will meet on May 23 in Tokyo to discuss outstanding issues, the Korean ministry said, according to Yonhap.
The last time the two ministers met formally in a bilateral setting was in November 2012, before increased antipathy in South Korea over territorial matters and Japan’s whitewashing of its past colonial and wartime atrocities.
In October last year, Korean Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan met his Japanese counterpart, Taro Aso, on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund-World Bank meeting in Washington. At the time, both men concurred on the need to hold dedicated talks at the earliest possible date.
Yonhap reported that no agenda has been set for the official meeting between the two countries, although media reports from Tokyo speculated the finance ministers could address their efforts if the United States hikes it key rates as expected later this year.
Any move by the U.S. Federal Reserve to raise rates could bring about market volatility and adversely affect certain financial markets in Asia and developing economies. The two ministers could discuss economic and fiscal conditions facing both countries, the source said.
From news reports
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Articles by Korea Herald
