A delegation led by Kim Eng Tan and Andrew Wood, executive directors responsible for the agency's Asia Pacific region, arrived in Seoul on Monday for a three-day consultation ahead of the upcoming review, the Ministry of Economy and Finance said.
They are scheduled to talk with key financial and economic officials including those from the Bank of Korea (BOK) and the Financial Services Commission (FSC). They will also meet with researchers and other staff from state-run think tanks such as the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP) and the Korea Development Institute (KDI).
According to the ministry, their evaluation is expected to primarily focus on monetary and fiscal policies in order to assess the country's capacity to manage internal and external uncertainties and economic variables.
In particular, S&P Global is expected to assess how South Korea will respond to the fallout from the Middle East conflict following U.S.-led airstrikes on Iran earlier this month and possible disruptions from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which have further weakened the already declining Korean won amid heightened financial market volatility that began in the second half of last year.
The agency's annual review is typically released in April after completing these evaluations.
South Korea's sovereign rating has remained unchanged at "AA" for the past nine years, one notch below a top-tier triple-A, following its last upgrade from "AA−" in 2016.
The ministry, led by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol, plans to coordinate with other relevant ministries to stress the resilience of the South Korean economy.
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