Anchor: Following the recent sharp depreciation of the Korean won and Japanese yen against the dollar, the finance chiefs of South Korea, the United States and Japan have acknowledged "serious concerns" and agreed to consult closely on foreign exchange markets.
Koo Heejin gives us the details.

Report: Finance chiefs of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan formed a consensus on the recent depreciation of the won and the yen against the dollar, and the need to jointly address market volatility.

Finance minister Choi Sang-mok, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Japan's finance minister Shunichi Suzuki issued a joint press statement to that effect on Wednesday following their first trilateral talks, which were held on the sidelines of the Group of 20(G20) finance leaders’ meetings in Washington, D.C.

This statement comes after the won buckled against the dollar past the 14-hundred mark on Tuesday, for the first time in 17 months. The Japanese currency on Tuesday also weakened to a 34-year low against the dollar to 154-point-seven yen.

In the joint statement, the finance chiefs said they will also continue to consult closely on foreign exchange market developments in line with their existing G20 commitments.

The three sides also said that they will continue to cooperate to promote sustainable economic growth, financial stability, as well as orderly and well-functioning financial markets.

In addition, the finance chiefs emphasized the importance of collaboration to overcome supply chain vulnerabilities and the possible harm to their economies from non-market economic practices of other countries, in an apparent reference to China. 

The three sides also affirmed their commitment to utilizing and coordinating their countries' respective sanctions in response to Russia’s war against Ukraine and North Korea’s weapons programs.

Meanwhile, in a separate briefing Bank of Korea(BOK) Governor Rhee Chang-yong reiterated to reporters that the central bank holds the necessary resources and methods of intervention to ease any volatility caused by the weakening Korean won against the U.S. dollar.

Rhee, however, assessed the latest surge in the exchange rate to be a temporary phenomenon.
Koo Heejin, KBS World Radio News.