Korea’s pension fund stops selling dollars on won rebound
Published: 10 Jun. 2025, 16:35
Korea’s National Pension Service has ended a five-month strategy of selling dollars in a bid to support the won, according to people familiar with the matter.
The halt came after the won appreciated sharply in recent weeks to its strongest against the dollar since October, triggering an internal formula to stop sales of the greenback, said the sources, who asked not to be named because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the transactions.
The fund began selling dollars in January after the won weakened to around 1,450 per dollar. People familiar with the plan said at the time it could end up totaling about $50 billion in local currency. Since then, the service had been reducing its dollar exposure gradually.
A spokesperson for the pension fund declined to comment on its currency strategy.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury last week said it was keeping Korea on its monitoring list for currency practices and advised it “to limit currency intervention to exceptional circumstances of disorderly foreign exchange market conditions.”
Seoul's Ministry of Economy and Finance responded by saying it will seek to foster “mutual understanding and trust” over exchange rate policy through regular communication and ongoing currency talks with Washington.
Bloomberg
The halt came after the won appreciated sharply in recent weeks to its strongest against the dollar since October, triggering an internal formula to stop sales of the greenback, said the sources, who asked not to be named because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the transactions.
The fund began selling dollars in January after the won weakened to around 1,450 per dollar. People familiar with the plan said at the time it could end up totaling about $50 billion in local currency. Since then, the service had been reducing its dollar exposure gradually.
A spokesperson for the pension fund declined to comment on its currency strategy.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury last week said it was keeping Korea on its monitoring list for currency practices and advised it “to limit currency intervention to exceptional circumstances of disorderly foreign exchange market conditions.”
Seoul's Ministry of Economy and Finance responded by saying it will seek to foster “mutual understanding and trust” over exchange rate policy through regular communication and ongoing currency talks with Washington.
Bloomberg
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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