South Korea's Ministry of Finance: South Korea will implement 24-hour foreign exchange trading starting in July.

PANews reported on January 9th that South Korea's Ministry of Finance announced on Friday that it will open its foreign exchange market to 24-hour trading starting in July, further easing restrictions on onshore trading in an effort to gain developed market status. The South Korean Deputy Finance Minister stated, "We will formulate a roadmap for the internationalization of the Korean won in the first half of the year, aiming to significantly improve the availability of the won and increase demand, such as by developing offshore won financing. At the same time, we will also advance related work according to the already announced MSCI inclusion roadmap." This 24-hour trading plan comes two years after South Korea extended trading hours and allowed foreign institutions to trade the won overseas, as South Korea seeks inclusion in major global stock indices. Two years ago, the USD/KRW market was only open for 6.5 hours daily, and direct USD trading could only be completed through two domestic interbank networks. The Ministry of Finance also plans to introduce a new offshore won trading system, relax reporting requirements, simplify the registration process for market participants, and promote trading demand through cross-border payment settlements and overseas financing.