South Korea’s finance minister said the current level of the won, near 1,400 to the dollar, should be considered a “new normal,” Yonhap News Agency reported Wednesday, although the finance ministry later denied having made the remark.
Choi Sang-mok, who is also vice prime minister for economic affairs, said “the current level of 1,400 should be considered different from the 1,400 in the past,” according to the report.
Mr. Choi added that South Korea’s economic conditions do not allow raising interest rates to defend the local currency, during a meeting with journalists who accompanied him on a trip to New York, Yonhap reported.
The won has weakened nearly 5% against the dollar this month and hit its lowest level since late July on Wednesday at 1,385.1. It last touched the psychological threshold of 1,400 in mid-April.
Shortly after Yonhap’s report, the Finance Ministry said in a text message: “Vice Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok did not say that the exchange rate of 1,400 won to the dollar was the new normal during of a meeting with correspondents in Manhattan, New York, on the 22nd.
