Anchor: Concerns are growing that the Choi Soon-sil scandal could hurt South Korea's credit rating. Moody's Investors Service has pointed out that the influence-peddling scandal could threaten the nation's economy.
Our Kim In-kyung has more.
 
Report: The Choi Soon-sil scandal, which has already paralyzed South Korea's political system, is now on the verge of weakening the nation's credit rating.
 
Moody's Investors Service has become the first global rating agency to warn that the political scandal could depress the nation's economy. 
 
Moody's said in a report released on Friday that a delay in policymaking due to the scandal isn't expected to affect South Korea's economic and fiscal metrics. However, it added that the confusion in governance is a threat to such a forecast.
 
Such concerns have already begun materializing in Seoul's dealings with its neighbors.
 
Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said Friday that talks with Seoul on reinstating a currency swap deal is being stalled.
 
[Sound bite: Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso (Japanese)]
"We don't know with whom we should finalize negotiations (for the bilateral currency swap agreement). There is no way to engage in negotiations."
 
Speculation has also emerged that Beijing launched a tax audit of Lotte Group's units in China as retaliation during a political vacuum in Seoul. Lotte recently agreed with Seoul's Defense Ministry to provide the firm's golf course as a site to house the U.S. THAAD antimissile battery. China opposes the THAAD deployment on the Korean Peninsula as it worries it could threaten Beijing's security interests.
 
Amid the uneasy external situation, Seoul's economic control tower, including Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho, is being grilled by a special parliamentary committee probing the influence-peddling scandal.
 
[Sound bite: Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho (Korean)]
"I regret that the finance ministry has become a target of suspicion in relation to the (Choi Soon-sil scandal) amid the grave internal and external economic situation."
 
Concerns are growing that the scandal could lead to a fall in South Korea's credit rating.
Kim In-kyung, KBS World Radio News.