SEOUL, December 05 (AJP) - South Korea’s finance chief pushed back against speculation that the government might lean on the National Pension Service to help stabilize the weakening won, saying market fundamentals — not state intervention — should guide currency movements.
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Koo Yoon-cheol, speaking in a radio interview Friday, said the government has no intention of directing the NPS, one of the world’s largest institutional investors, to adjust its dollar holdings for exchange-rate purposes.
“The pension fund requires dollars for overseas investments and converts them back during payouts,” he said. “We intend to establish a new framework that reflects these structural realities, not one based on government intervention.”
Koo said the administration is focused on balancing foreign-exchange supply and demand in the near term but argued that the only durable solution lies in strengthening the competitiveness of Korean companies and the broader economy.
“Our goal is to build an economic structure in which foreign exchange flows naturally,” he said.
* This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP.
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