South Korea’s central bank vowed to stabilize financial markets and highlighted the importance of “uninterrupted implementation” of key fiscal and economic measures, in its first statement since lawmakers voted to impeach South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol.
“The Bank of Korea [BOK] intends to utilize all available policy instruments, in conjunction with the government, to respond to and avert an escalation of volatility in financial and foreign exchange markets,” the central bank said yesterday, addressing the fallout of Yoon’s failed martial law decree earlier this month.
Comparing the current situation with the impeachment phases of past presidents, the BOK said the latest case is “characterized by greater external challenges, such as heightened uncertainty in the trading environment and intensified global competition.”
Photo: AP
“Should these external factors overlap with domestic ones, their impact may amplify,” the BOK said, calling for an interventionist approach to righting the economy.
In the days after Yoon’s martial law declaration, the stock market plunged and the South Korean won at one point tumbled against the US dollar to the worst level since the global financial crisis erupted in 2008.
The central bank’s message comes after South Korea’s parliament on Saturday voted to oust Yoon from office, a decision that must now be reviewed by the Constitutional Court.
After the ballot, South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who serves as acting president, asked his advisers to step up their monitoring of financial markets, calling for “swift and bold” stabilizing steps if needed.
“Predictability of the political process is expected to improve going forward and financial market volatility is anticipated to reduce” following the impeachment vote, the central bank said in its statement.
South Korea’s main opposition leader Lee Jae-myung also underscored the importance of restoring normality. Lee proposed creating a bipartisan body involving parliament and the executive branch to discuss ways to stabilize the state and boost a flagging domestic economy.
“What we need to discuss right now is slumping domestic demand and the slowdown in the economy due to the shrinking fiscal role of the government,” Lee said at a news conference yesterday. “In order to solve this problem, I think we need to discuss the supplementary budget swiftly.”
The Constitutional Court has 180 days to rule on the validity of the impeachment motion passed on Saturday. If the court moves forward with removing Yoon, presidential elections must be held within 60 days.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his