South Korea’s won faces a new test as foreign bond buying loses momentum



Analysis South Korea’s won faces a new test as foreign bond buying loses momentum With WGBI entry ending in November, pension fund swaps and Washington’s investment demands loom over currency policy John LeeOctober 13, 2026 SHARE COPY LINK FACEBOOK X LINKEDIN MASTODON BOK Governor Shin Hyun-song attends the ECB Forum on Central Banking 2026 in Sintra, Portugal, July 2, 2026 \| Image: Bank of Korea via Twitter South Korea’s record export earnings are doing less to lift the won than they once did, because a growing share of the dollars the country earns abroad is flowing straight into foreign assets, a shift that surfaced in a pointed exchange during Monday’s parliamentary audit of the Bank of Korea (BOK). The currency is calmer than it was. The won traded around 1,330 per dollar on the day of the audit, ruling Democratic Party (DP) lawmaker Oh Ki-hyung noted, after sliding toward 1,478 in December and weakening further earlier this year. BOK Governor Shin Hyun-song told Oh that the bank’s © Korea Risk Group. All rights reserved. No part of this content may be reproduced, distributed, or used for commercial purposes without prior written permission from Korea Risk Group. LATEST ANALYSIS 01Trump’s Russian diesel deal may leave South Korea’s refining boom intact 02Trump’s Alaska LNG claim shows who really runs the US-South Korea alliance 03South Korea’s missile defense push raises new questions over wartime stocks 04South Korea bank hacks expose weak links beyond core financial systems 05Lee-Zelensky feud exposes South Korea’s widening Ukraine policy dilemma 06Lee Jae Myung’s ‘pacemaker’ strategy tests South Korea’s leverage with Trump 07Trump’s Korea investment victory lap masks safeguards Seoul still controls 08North Korean POW dispute tests Seoul-Kyiv trust and future Ukraine policy

Analysis

South Korea’s won faces a new test as foreign bond buying loses momentum

With WGBI entry ending in November, pension fund swaps and Washington’s investment demands loom over currency policy

John LeeOctober 13, 2026

South Korea’s won faces a new test as foreign bond buying loses momentum

BOK Governor Shin Hyun-song attends the ECB Forum on Central Banking 2026 in Sintra, Portugal, July 2, 2026 | Image: Bank of Korea via Twitter

South Korea’s record export earnings are doing less to lift the won than they once did, because a growing share of the dollars the country earns abroad is flowing straight into foreign assets, a shift that surfaced in a pointed exchange during Monday’s parliamentary audit of the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The currency is calmer than it was. The won traded around 1,330 per dollar on the day of the audit, ruling Democratic Party (DP) lawmaker Oh Ki-hyung noted, after sliding toward 1,478 in December and weakening further earlier this year.

BOK Governor Shin Hyun-song told Oh that the bank’s

LATEST ANALYSIS

01Trump’s Russian diesel deal may leave South Korea’s refining boom intact
02Trump’s Alaska LNG claim shows who really runs the US-South Korea alliance
03South Korea’s missile defense push raises new questions over wartime stocks
04South Korea bank hacks expose weak links beyond core financial systems
05Lee-Zelensky feud exposes South Korea’s widening Ukraine policy dilemma
06Lee Jae Myung’s ‘pacemaker’ strategy tests South Korea’s leverage with Trump
07Trump’s Korea investment victory lap masks safeguards Seoul still controls
08North Korean POW dispute tests Seoul-Kyiv trust and future Ukraine policy

South Korea’s won faces a new test as foreign bond buying loses momentum

LATEST ANALYSIS

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John Lee