South Korea's top currency official has fired a warning at Japan: his nation has stepped up scrutiny of the yen's tumble against the won after damage to exporter earnings.
"Korean companies face bigger difficulties this year than last," said Song In-chang, the South Korean Finance Ministry's director general in charge of foreign exchange market policies. "What's different is that we have been paying attention to the won-yen rate since last year, whereas the won-dollar was our main focus before that."
The currency's gains against the euro have also caught Song's attention, he said during an interview in Sejong, south of Seoul, last Thursday.