The U.S. government says South Korea has promised to restrain from excessively intervening in the foreign exchange market during their recent talks on how to revise the bilateral free trade agreement(FTA) and steel imports tariffs. 

A high-ranking U.S. official said in a media briefing conducted by phone on Tuesday that the South Korean side made the promise additionally as the two sides reached agreement on the talks. 

The official said that South Korea agreed to increase the transparency of its foreign exchange actions and restrain from competitive devaluation of the won against the greenback, saying the details of the agreement are still under negotiations between the South Korean Finance Ministry and the U.S. Treasury Department. 

The alleged agreement was not announced when Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong on Monday announced the results of the talks with the U.S.  

Kim said that South Korea “has defended the red line” for its agricultural sector, earned the exemption of U.S. tariff measures on steel products and made concession only in some areas, including extending a 25 percent tariff on imports of Korean pickup trucks by 20 years.