Korea, Japan agree to extend $10 billion currency swap as Lee meets G20 counterparts

South Korea's finance ministry said Friday that Finance Minister Lee Hyung-il and his Japanese counterpart, Katsuyama Satsuki, agreed in Bangkok to extend the Korea-Japan currency swap at its current size of 10 billion dollars, ahead of its expiry this year.

The swap was signed in December 2023 with a three-year term. The agreement was reached on the sidelines of the G20 and G7 finance ministers' and central bank governors' meetings.

Korea was invited to the G7 finance ministers' meeting for a second consecutive time and attended as a guest country.

Lee told the G20 session that supply chain disruptions from geopolitical tensions such as the Middle East war, the response to high inflation and high interest rates, and the search for new growth engines to match advances in artificial intelligence were the main challenges facing the global economy. He called on G20 members to strengthen supply chain resilience, protect vulnerable groups and invest in future growth drivers.

"Korea will form the G20 troika together with the United States and Britain next year, and we will work to contribute to the stable growth of the world economy," Lee said.

On the margins, Lee held introductory bilateral talks with finance ministers from Japan, Britain, Australia, Germany and Singapore, as well as with Asian Development Bank President Kanda Masato. In his meeting with Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Lee said he was impressed by the teamwork the two countries showed as co-chairs of this year's G20 global imbalance study group, and thanked Australia for helping Korea secure emergency supplies of urea solution during the 2021 shortage.

Lee also proposed sharing the experience and know-how of Singapore, which runs Temasek Holdings, as Korea pursues a strategic sovereign wealth fund. Singapore's Second Minister for Finance, Indranee Thurai Rajah, responded positively, according to the ministry. The two countries are due to serve as co-chairs of next year's ASEAN+3 finance ministers' and central bank governors' meeting.

The finance ministry said Lee and Kanda discussed follow-up measures on cooperation in artificial intelligence, critical minerals and nuclear power that were raised during Kanda's Sept. 14 visit to Korea and his meeting with the president. Lee asked the ADB to take an active role in turning summit diplomacy into concrete projects and requested support for more Korean staff at the bank.