Korean Won Struggles Most Among Major Currencies
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Seoul, Dec 8 (NationPress) The South Korean currency has emerged as the most underperforming currency globally last week, impacted by the political unrest following President Yoon Suk Yeol's brief declaration of martial law, as indicated by data released on Sunday.
The Korean won depreciated by 24.5 won per dollar over the past week, marking the steepest weekly decline since the third week of January when the currency fell by 25.5 won, according to information compiled by Yonhap Infomax, the financial information arm of Yonhap News Agency.
Against the greenback, the won was down 1.86 percent on Friday compared to the previous week, making it the worst performer among major currencies.
In comparison, the Australian dollar declined by 1.32 percent, and the Chinese yuan decreased by 0.36 percent against the U.S. dollar, while the Japanese yen and the British pound experienced slight gains of 0.1 percent and 0.26 percent, respectively.
The won plummeted to 1,442 won, the lowest point since October 2022, during offshore intraday trading on Wednesday, shortly after Yoon's unexpected late-night televised address announcing emergency martial law, and has remained around the 1,400 won mark.
On Friday, the local currency was trading at 1,419.20 won against the greenback at 3:30 p.m., a drop of 4.1 won from the previous session.
"The political developments have further eroded investor sentiment, which was already affected by worries about the semiconductor industry cycle and uncertainties stemming from Donald Trump's tariff policies," stated Moon Jeong-hee, an economist from KB Kookmin Bank.
In the meantime, the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) on Sunday urged the immediate arrest and investigation of President Yoon Suk Yeol concerning his failed declaration of martial law.
Yoon narrowly escaped impeachment on Saturday due to a lack of quorum, with all but three lawmakers from the ruling People Power Party (PPP) boycotting the vote following his unexpected and short-lived martial law declaration last week.
The DP also called for revoking Yoon's authority to command the military, pledging to initiate a special counsel investigation over potential treason charges against the president and other officials.
