Korea holds IR meeting in London

South Korea's finance minister held an investor relations meeting in London on Friday to explain the latest economic conditions of the country and the government's policy direction to foreign investors.

The overseas IR meeting at Andaz Hotel drew keen interest from investors as it marked the first of its kind led by a minister-level policymaker in four years. It also represented the first such meeting since President Park Geun-hye took office in February. About 100 investors attended the gathering.

Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok made a presentation titled "From Emerging to Advanced," highlighting South Korea's economic achievement over the past decades and explaining the Seoul government's broad policy directions to participants.

In particular, he explained the latest stimulus efforts through what he called an "effective policy mix" that includes a 17.3 trillion won (US$15.3 billion) supplementary budget, lowering the key interest rate and unveiling measures to boost the sluggish property market.

In a question and answer session, Hyun shrugged off worries among investors over the country's fiscal health and negative impact that the Japanese yen's weakening trend could have on the Korean economy.

He also assured investors that the impact stemming from North Korea-sparked geopolitical risks is "temporary" and "limited" and would not affect the fundamentals of the country's overall economy.

On the sidelines of the session, Hyun held meetings and interviews with senior economists from global financial companies and media in order to help them better understand the current economic conditions of South Korea.

Meanwhile, foreign investors positively viewed the IR meeting as they could have a chance to improve their understanding of the policy direction and philosophy of the new government.

They still called for the government to keep up its efforts in communicating with investors through such meetings. (Yonhap News)