THE country has reached a foreign exchange agreement with the United States and will announce the deal soon, Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol said.
Speaking to reporters at Incheon International Airport on Saturday night, Koo did not elaborate on the deal.
Yonhap news agency, citing an unnamed finance ministry official, said it is not related to talks on a currency swap as part of bilateral negotiations over President Donald Trump’s tariffs on South Korean goods.
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung told US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last Wednesday in New York that the Asian country needs a foreign exchange swap in order to make the US$350bil (RM1.5 trillion) investment it has pledged to its ally in the tariff talks, Koo said.
Koo quoted Bessent as saying he would discuss the issue with other US officials and get back to South Korea.
South Korean National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac reiterated on Saturday that Seoul cannot pay the US$350bil “upfront”, as Trump has suggested in recent days.
Lee said this month South Korea’s economy could fall into crisis rivalling its 1997 meltdown if the government decided to accept the US demands without safeguards.
Koo said he had not heard of anything about a Wall Street Journal report that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had discussed raising the US$350bil investment. — Reuters
