Opposition: "US-Korea currency swap was excluded"…Koo Yoon-cheol: "An annual cap of $20 billion is more advantageous"

When the People Power Party pointed out that "a US-Korea currency swap was excluded" in the US-Korea tariff negotiations, Koo Yoon-cheol, Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and Minister of Economy and Finance, stepped forward to explain.

At the comprehensive audit of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee on the 30th, Deputy Prime Minister Koo, responding to a related question, said, "If we did a US-Korea currency swap, we would have to pay interest of about 4%," and added, "When investing $20 billion, if there are problems in the foreign exchange market, reducing it would rather cut costs and be much more advantageous to the national interest."

This was in response to People Power Party lawmaker Park Seong-hoon pointing out, "The currency swap was left out of the US-Korea tariff negotiations, and doesn't that mean there is no mechanism to stabilize the foreign exchange market?"

Deputy Prime Minister Koo emphasized, "The amount of $20 billion per year is a cap, and in the early stages of the project it seems that less will be used depending on project progress," and added, "While $20 billion is the cap, if there are problems in the foreign exchange market, the amount can be further adjusted. Considering this, adjustments can be made without doing a currency swap right now."

Regarding the selection of investment projects, he explained, "We are involved in project selection. Projects that are commercially rational in advance must be chosen, and we will also appoint the project manager."

He added, "We will approach the project selection stage as carefully as possible to prevent loss of principal, and if losses occur, we will adjust profit distribution."

Seul-gi Lee, Hankyung.com reporter seulkee@hankyung.com