South Korea said to be on brink of currency crisis

South Korea could plunge into the same credit issue as it did during the financial crisis of 1997 and 2008, according to experts. Authorities, however, downplayed the speculation, saying that the currency reserves are strong enough to fight dollar shortages. According to the country’s finance minister, there was no reason to be overly pessimistic as the local currency was one of many currencies quickly depreciating as foreign investors look to the dollar for higher yields they expect from a hawkish US Federal Reserve. The Finance Ministry said it would step up monitoring of the local markets and support any interagency efforts to contain the volatility.