▲ This composite image shows banknotes of South Korea and the United States. (Yonhap)

By Kang Yoon-seung

SEOUL, July 24 (Yonhap) -- The government will maintain close communication with the United States over Washington's recent decision to keep South Korea on its list of countries monitored for their foreign exchange policies, the finance ministry said Friday.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury released an updated monitoring list overnight in its semiannual report, comprising South Korea, China, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Germany, Ireland and Switzerland.

All of the countries were included in the previous report released in January.

"The government plans to maintain close communication with the U.S. Treasury Department and deepen mutual understanding and trust regarding the foreign exchange market," the Ministry of Finance and Economy said in a release.

"We will continue cooperation to ensure stability in the foreign exchange market," it added.

Asia's fourth-largest economy was earlier removed from the list in November 2023 after having been included since April 2016. South Korea was placed back on the list in November 2024.

Countries are placed on the monitoring list when they meet two of the three criteria set under the U.S. Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015, also known as the 2015 Act.

The three criteria are a bilateral trade surplus of over US$15 billion with the United States, a current account surplus of more than 3 percent of a country's gross domestic product (GDP) and persistent, one-sided intervention in the foreign exchange market in at least eight months of a 12-month period, with net purchases exceeding 2 percent of an economy's GDP. South Korea met the first two criteria.

The finance ministry, meanwhile, said it was notable that the report quoted its assessment in the January edition, acknowledging that "the recent depreciation pressures were not in line with Korea's strong economic fundamentals."

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