Yi Whan-woo is a Korea Times journalist primarily covering finance. He writes in-depth articles on macroeconomy and financial markets and previously covered sports, politics, diplomacy and inter-Korean affairs, among others. Feel free to contact him at yistory@koreatimes.co.kr.
Economic control tower busy relieving anxiety of unnerved investors, businesspeople from abroad
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choi Sang-mok presides over an emergency meeting on macroeconomic and financial issues at the Korea Federation of Banks in central Seoul, Friday. Yonhap
By Yi Whan-woo
Finance minister meets representatives of foreign chambers of commerce
The country's economic control tower is apparently making all-out efforts to placate international investors and businesspeople over the political turmoil caused by the president's surprise declaration of martial law.
The National Assembly reversed the declaration of martial law but it is still sending shockwaves across the financial market afterward.
For instance, the benchmark KOSPI and the value of the Korean won dropped for the third consecutive day as of Friday after the incident began on Tuesday night.
Under the circumstances, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choi Sang-mok hosted a meeting with foreign chambers of commerce in Korea on Friday.
The closed-door meeting was attended by chamber representatives from the United States, the European Union, China, Japan, France and Germany, plus Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Ahn Duk-geun.
“The deputy prime minister stressed that martial law is ended in accordance with the Constitution and the law, vowing to make sure foreign enterprises here will not be adversely affected in its aftermath,” the finance ministry said.
It went on to say that Choi promised to “sustain a systemized policy as usual for foreign companies to carry out investment and other profit-making activities in a stable manner.”
In return, the chamber representatives underlined the need for the government's keen cooperation with the foreign firms, in order to forward Korea’s goal of becoming a major business hub in the Asia-Pacific region.
The meeting came after an emergency gathering on macroeconomic and financial issues for the third straight day, Friday.
It was attended by Choi, plus Bank of Korea Gov. Rhee Chang-yong, Financial Services Commission Chairman Kim Byoung-hwan and Financial Supervisory Service Gov. Lee Bok-hyun.
Choi reaffirmed that the government would maintain its 24-hour monitoring response team and said the financial market has been "largely stabilized.”
According to the finance ministry, the four participants assessed that the government's measures to stabilize the market led to “an overall stable trend” in the stock exchange and the currency market.
They also agreed on deploying "unlimited liquidity" into the market if it is needed to help further stabilize the market.
On Thursday, the finance minister held a one-on-one meeting with the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourincha and also had an exclusive interview with Bloomberg.
Choi underlined the government's commitment to close communication with the IMF and other global financial institutions, noting that this is crucial to preventing excessive concerns among both domestic and foreign investors.
In a Bloomberg interview, Choi dismissed concerns that Asia’s fourth-largest economy may face a recession next year, calling such concerns “excessive.”
He also dismissed the view that investors will turn away from the market here due to political instability.
He addressed the government’s push to revise legislation to make sure companies give shareholders more consideration.