Seoul stresses currency deal with US on separate track

Korea reiterated on Thursday that it has been in talks with the United States to improve the transparency of the country's currency market, once again stressing that the discussion is not related to the bilateral trade deal with the world's largest economy.

"The currency rate issue is not a bilateral one. It should rather be dealt with in a multilateral frame," said a senior official at the finance ministry, asking not to be named.

The official said Seoul has expressed "deep" regret over Washington's remark, insinuating that the currency talks are part of the revision of the free trade agreement between the two nations.

On its website, the US Trade Representative said that the US Department of the Treasury is leading discussions on currency with Korea's finance ministry.

"(A memorandum of understanding) is being finalized on robust provisions to prohibit competitive devaluation and exchange rate manipulation in order to promote a level playing field for trade and investment. Strong commitments on transparency and accountability are included in the provisions," it said.

The official said that the government is reviewing an option to reveal the records of market intervention, which he says is crucial to market transparency.

"But nothing has yet been decided," the official added.

The Treasury Department is set to release its semiannual currency report next month. Last October, Washington kept Korea on its "monitoring list" but did not designate it as a currency manipulator.

Earlier this month, the finance ministry said Korea is considering disclosing details of its intervention in the foreign exchange market in a move to boost transparency and clear itself of suspicion of currency manipulation.

Korea's financial authorities claimed they do not interfere in the foreign exchange market but engage in "smoothing operations" against extreme one-sided movements.

Washington has vowed to aggressively keep tabs on and combat unfair currency practices, saying the US cannot and will not bear the burden of an international trading system that, it claims, unfairly disadvantages American exports and gives an edge to its trading partners.(Yonhap)