Bank of Korea Governor Shin Hyun-song said the central bank dropped the international ranking of foreign exchange reserves from its press releases because the table had lost much of its relevance, while pledging to improve communication over the change.
Shin made the remarks at a parliamentary audit held by the National Assembly's Finance, Economy and Planning Committee at the central bank in Seoul's Jung-gu district on the 12th, responding to a question from Kim Sang-hoon of the People Power Party about why the ranking table was removed. "Its relevance has diminished considerably," he said. "We will correct the parts where communication was lacking."
Kim said the bank had abruptly scrapped a ranking table it had published for more than 25 years without prior explanation or justification. "Does it make sense for a responsible department to delete data that has been disclosed for such a long time on its own judgment?" he asked.
Shin said that when the ranking was first disclosed in 2001, the trauma of the foreign exchange crisis was still vivid and the figures were included in press releases as statistics that could inspire confidence. "The relevance of the ranking table has gradually declined since then," he said.
He added that there had been questions requiring further communication about how helpful the ranking was in gauging South Korea's foreign exchange soundness. "We will correct these aspects going forward and strengthen communication," he said.
Responding to suspicions that the table was removed to conceal a drop in the country's ranking, Shin countered that the bank had dropped it from press releases at a time when the ranking had in fact risen.