SEOUL - South Korea's finance minister said the won's current level near 1,400 per dollar should be regarded as a"new normal", the Yonhap news agency reported on Wednesday, although the finance ministry later denied the minister made the remark.
Choi added that South Korea's economic conditions did not make it possible to raise interest rates to defend the local currency, in a meeting with reporters accompanying him during a trip to New York, Yonhap reported. Soon after Yonhap's report, the finance ministry said in a text message:"Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok did not say that the FX rate of 1,400 won per dollar was the new normal at a meeting with correspondents in New York's Manhattan on the 22nd."