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S. Korean finance minister, British diplomat discuss ways to deal with Brexit

All News 21:13 July 01, 2016

SEJONG, July 1 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's finance minister on Friday discussed with the British ambassador to Seoul ways to deal with fallout from the recent British vote to leave the European Union, or Brexit, the ministry here said.

"South Korea respects the decision by the British people," Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho was quoted by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance as saying in a meeting with Britain's Charles Hay in Seoul. "Nevertheless, the two countries will firmly maintain bilateral economic cooperation."

In a landmark referendum on Thursday last week, the British people chose to separate from the EU, the first time in history a country has decided to do so, jolting the global financial market and forcing investors to flee to safer assets like the U.S. dollar.

But a week later, investors' sentiments have seemed to cool down to some extent, as major markets rebounded to close in positive territory.

South Korea's benchmark KOSPI rose for the fifth consecutive day on Friday as market jitters over Brexit continued to taper off, nearly reaching the level recorded before the Brexit vote.

In the meeting, Yoo and Hay agreed that the Brexit vote has increased financial volatility in the world, but the market was stabilized by the market-smoothing operations of global powerhouses, according to the finance ministry.

Yoo said the Britain-EU breakup will have little impact on bilateral trade under the new relationship between South Korea and the new Britain, but the government will make efforts to minimize any possible spillover into the real economy.

South Korea's exports to Britain totaled US$7.39 billion last year, taking up just 1.4 percent of the country's total outbound shipments.

brk@yna.co.kr
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