Tokyo and Seoul agreed Tuesday not to extend their expanded currency swap accord amid heightened territorial tensions.
"We are terminating the agreement as scheduled initially," Finance Minister Koriki Jojima said during a news conference in Tokyo. Bringing the deal to an end on Oct. 31 "was agreed by both sides with mutual understanding," he said, adding the decision was unrelated to the diplomatic flap that started in August when South Korean President Lee Myung Bak visited the South Korea-held islets in the Sea of Japan claimed by Japan.
"This was not a political decision," he explained, adding that both governments felt the market had stabilized enough and there was no need for the expanded program.