The Blue House addressed the U.S. Treasury’s decision to re-designate South Korea as a currency monitoring country on Friday. Officials stated that the Treasury’s report reaffirmed that the recent won depreciation doesn’t align with South Korea’s economic fundamentals. The foreign exchange authorities are in close contact with the U.S. Treasury and will continue this dialogue.
In an official statement, the Blue House explained that it understands this re-designation was largely a result of the Treasury’s mechanical application of its evaluation criteria.
On Thursday, the U.S. Treasury re-designated several countries as currency monitors, including South Korea, China, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, Germany, Ireland, and Switzerland. With Thailand’s addition, the list now comprises ten nations.
South Korea had been off the watchlist since November 2023, ending a seven-year stint that began in April 2016. However, it found itself back on the list in November 2024, just before the Donald Trump administration took office. The country maintained its monitoring status in last June’s report and once again failed to escape the list in this latest assessment.