South Korea looks for more bilateral currency swap deals

Koreans reducing dependence on US dollar.

Minister of Strategy and Finance Hyun Oh-seok said South Korea is also considering reaching additional currency swap agreements with resource-rich countries such as Australia.

"We are considering currency swap agreements with resource-rich countries, and Australia is one of them," Hyun said adding that he doesn’t believe that the discussions have progressed that much.

Bank of Korea, South Korea's central bank, announced three bilateral currency swap deals worth US$20.1 billion with Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia earlier this month in a bid to strengthen financial and economic cooperation with the three countries.

Hyun said South Korea’s foreign-exchange authorities are primarily focused on the risk of sudden and rapid outflows of foreign capital.