Won Revaluation Resisted: South Korea will keep...
Won Revaluation Resisted: South Korea will keep the won’s exchange rate at its present level despite U.S. pressure to revalue the currency and threats of trade sanctions, officials said.
They said economic planners, in weekend meetings called to prepare for South Korea’s trade talks in Washington beginning Tuesday, also decided to resist a drive to open Seoul’s markets further to U.S. farm products. South Korea is the United States’ second-largest agricultural market in Asia after Japan. The Washington talks will be held five weeks before Trade Representative Carla A. Hills must name which nations should be targeted for possible sanctions for alleged unfair trade practices.
A Trade Ministry official, who asked not to be identified, said a sharp fall in South Korea’s trade surplus in the first three months of this year was largely due to the continued rise of the won.
The South Korean currency, fixed on Saturday at 665.90 won to the dollar, has risen 3% against the dollar so far this year after a 26% gain in 1987 and 1988.
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