South Korean President Lee Jae Myung speaks at a roundtable on Korea’s shipbuilding industry held in Ulsan on May 13, 2026. (Yonhap)
Korean President Lee Jae Myung proposed a currency swap during a meeting with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who visited Korea en route to China for the Trump-Xi summit.Blue House spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said that in Lee’s meeting with Bessent at the presidential office in Seoul on Wednesday morning, the Korean president had spoken of “the need to develop the two countries’ cooperative relationship in the areas of the economy and technology and to cooperate on the forex market and on bilateral supply chains for critical minerals.”A currency swap is a foreign exchange arrangement under which two countries exchange different currencies according to a predetermined rate, and can help stabilize the forex market.When a Korea-US corporation for strategic investment is launched under the Special Act on the Operation and Management of Strategic Investments between Korea and the US, which goes into effect on June 18, the first investment in the US is supposed to be made in dollars. Given the difficulty of acquiring dollars at a time of high exchange rates due to the US and Israel’s war against Iran, a currency swap with the US could reduce Korea’s forex risk.“The Korean and American economies remain stable despite the recent increase in uncertainty. Our two countries need to remain in close communication to ensure that positive trends can develop as we further reinforce our cooperative relationship on economic issues,” Lee said.“We would appreciate your efforts to ensure that strategic investment between Korea and the US, based on firm mutual trust, will lead to greater cooperation on a wide range of economic and strategic areas for the benefit of both countries,” the Korean president added.Bessent was in Korea to take part in high-level trade talks before US President Donald Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.Bessent commented that Korea, under Lee’s leadership, had sustained an impressive growth rate and stock market performance compared to other countries despite difficult conditions, including the conflict in the Middle East.Lee had earlier met with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng.In their meeting, Lee said that “China and the US building a stable relationship will do wonders for the development and prosperity of countries around the world, including Korea.”“The full restoration of Korea-China relations through President Xi and my reciprocal state visits last year and this year is a major achievement of our national interest-oriented pragmatic foreign policy. We should further expand cooperation to help the pocketbooks of people in both countries as we adapt to the changing times,” Lee said.By Shim Woo-sam, staff reporterPlease direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
