SEOUL, April 13 (AJP) — Shin Hyun-song, nominee for governor of the Bank of Korea, defended the central bank’s interventionist stance to curb excessive dollar strength against the won, describing the country’s foreign exchange buffers as “robust” against external shocks.
In a written response released Monday ahead of his parliamentary confirmation hearing, Shin warned that a sharp rise in the dollar-won rate fuels inflationary pressure while increasing the burden on non-export firms and households.
He pledged to closely monitor currency movements, noting that the won’s postwar depreciation has been steeper than that of peer currencies and remains highly volatile.
The Korean won rebounded 1.8 percent to 1,482.5 per dollar last Friday from 1,505.2 a week earlier, but is still down 3.1 percent from end-2025 levels.
While foreign exchange reserves have declined by $7.1 billion from since the intervention - from $430.7 billion as of November last year to $423.6 billion in March - Shin said they remain sufficient to serve as a buffer against external shocks.
Shin attributed the decline to temporary factors, including measures to mitigate volatility in the spot exchange market, changes in the U.S. dollar-converted value of assets held in other currencies, fluctuations in foreign currency deposits at financial institutions, and the foreign exchange swap with the National Pension Service (NPS).
Addressing concerns over his personal finances, Shin said he has already begun reducing his foreign-currency holdings, which previously made up the bulk of his portfolio, in a move aimed at easing conflict-of-interest concerns.
“I have already disposed of a significant portion of my foreign-denominated financial assets,” he said in response to a query from Park Soo-young of the People Power Party.
According to his asset disclosure, 4.57 billion won ($3.1 million)—or 56 percent of his family’s total wealth of 8.24 billion won—is held in foreign currencies including the U.S. dollar, British pound and Swiss franc. Within his financial assets, nearly 98 percent were denominated in foreign currencies.
Critics argue such a portfolio—one that benefits from a weaker won—is inappropriate for a central bank chief expected to act as a “firefighter” in currency markets.
Shin said he plans to “sequentially reduce” his foreign asset exposure, while also selling about 300 million won worth of domestic stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to avoid potential conflicts of interest.
Responding to allegations that he purchased a London-listed ETF tracking the Korean market—“Franklin FTSE Korea”—shortly before his nomination, Shin said the investment was made “for portfolio management purposes.”
On property-related concerns, Shin said he has put two of his three homes—including properties in Seoul’s Gangnam and Jongno districts—up for sale, as part of efforts to comply with public service standards.
The move comes as the government prepares to tighten regulations on multi-homeowners from May, including raising capital gains tax rates by at least 20 percentage points for those owning two or more homes.
Shin faces a confirmation hearing at the National Assembly on Wednesday.
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