Financial market fears ‘groundless’

Hyun Oh-seok, the country’s deputy prime minister for the economy and finance minister, said yesterday that anxiety over the Korean financial market is “groundless.”

During a meeting on economic affairs, Hyun emphasized the country’s relatively strong fundamentals.

“Korea, unlike other emerging countries, is maintaining solid surpluses in both current and fiscal accounts,” the minister said.

“The country has learned lessons from past financial crises that we should not trust our economy too much nor remain complacent about it. Groundless worries about conditions of the Korean market are not desirable.”

The minister added that major foreign investment banks and media are paying attention to Korea’s strong economic fundamentals.

“Some foreign media have raised concerns, citing Korea as one of the countries, including Turkey, where the so-called ‘cheap dollar’ has flowed in excessively, but that’s not true,” Hyun said. “The country also has been calling for advanced countries to make careful efforts to end their quantitative easing, considering possible ripple effects on the international financial market and major economic indicators.”

Korea’s debt structure has improved most since quantitative easing policies by the United States and Japan, he added.

The minister offered assurance that the government is closely monitoring the possible negative impact of external risks. The government will also enhance its contingency plan to deal with any unexpected risks.

BY SONG SU-HYUN [ssh@joongang.co.kr]