December 4, 2024
SEOUL – The Korean won fell to a two-year low against the US dollar after President Yoon Suk Yeol declared emergency martial law late Tuesday.
The Korean currency weakened as much as 1.4 percent and touched 1,430 won per dollar during the nighttime offshore trading.
The decline followed a late-night television address by President Yoon, who claimed the move was necessary to protect the country from “anti-state” forces.
The Korean won sharply dropped right after Yoon’s declaration at around 10:30 p.m. By 10:53 p.m., it depreciated to 1,430.0 won, down 28.7 from the previous day.
It marks the first time the currency has declined to this level since October 2022, when it slipped to 1432.4 won against the greenback.
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok convened an emergency meeting with Bank of Korea Governor Rhee Chang-yong, the Financial Services Commission chief Kim Byoung-hwan and Financial Supervisory Service Gov. Lee Bok-hyun to respond to possible market reactions.
Choi vowed to mobilize all available means to stabilize the financial and foreign exchange markets, including unlimited liquidity supply to respond to market instability factors that may appear in the face of the declaration of martial law.
The top government officials agreed to hold daily meetings on macroeconomic and financial issues to establish a crisis management system. Further measures for market stabilization will be announced starting from Wednesday morning.
“Attendees of the meeting promised to put utmost efforts into stabilizing the economy in preparation for all situations,” the finance ministry said in a statement.