Yellen discusses cooperation, Russian crude price cap in Seoul
Seoul, Jul 19 (EFE).- United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met Tuesday in Seoul with South Korean Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho to address cooperating on foreign exchange and possibly capping the price of Russian crude to cull Moscow’s revenues and alleviate inflation.
After the meeting, Yellen spoke of the importance of building resilient supply chains to avoid “costly” disruptions that imply further price increases.
The treasury secretary said Seoul and Washington would continue to discuss “efforts to hold Russia accountable for its brutal and illegal war against Ukraine,” according to statements collected by the Yonhap agency.
This “includes contemplating a cap on the price of Russian crude in order to deprive Russia of oil revenues and reduce oil prices for consumers,” Yellen said.
The US official said both parties remain in tune to limit the development of new weapons by neighboring North Korea through sanctions.
Choo said the economic situation for both countries is becoming increasingly “more serious” and spoke of the importance of cooperating on matters of bilateral interest, such as the foreign exchange market.
Neither commented on the possibility of the two countries agreeing on a currency swap, and Yellen didn’t answer questions raised hours earlier on the subject.
The treasury secretary also met South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, who asked for her efforts to reach cooperation agreements to “stabilize” the foreign exchange market at a time when the local currency, the won, has fallen to levels of more than a decade ago against the US dollar.
Yellen also met Bank of Korea governor Rhee Chang-yong and visited facilities of South Korean industrial group LG related to batteries for electric cars as the world’s leading economy seeks to strengthen supply chains to avoid bottlenecks, dependence on China and rising inflation.
LG and other South Korean companies have recently announced major investment plans to build plants related to electric mobility of semiconductors in the US. EFE
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