Governor of the Bank of Korea explained, “Preliminary explanation for deletion of foreign exchange reserve rankings”, then reversed (comprehensive)

“Verbally responding to reporters’ inquiries before lifting the embargo”… In fact, it was arbitrarily deleted without explanation before the press release was distributed.

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Han Ji-hoon and Chae Sae-rom = Bank of Korea Governor Shin Hyun-song said on the 12th regarding the non-disclosure of the international ranking of Korea's foreign exchange reserves, "This is because the effectiveness (of publishing statistics) has been greatly reduced."

During the audit of the National Assembly's Finance and Economic Planning Committee this afternoon, Governor Shin responded to People Power Party lawmaker Kim Sang-hoon's comment, asking, "Does it make sense to eliminate the ranking table that had been made public for 25 years and 6 months without even a rat knowing?"

Governor Shin explained, “25 years ago, the trauma of the foreign exchange crisis was very vivid, and (the ranking table) was included in the press release as a reliable statistic at the time.”

He added, "There was an issue where we needed to communicate a little more about how helpful the ranking table is in measuring our country's foreign exchange soundness. We will correct that in the future."

Rep. Kim said, “There was no prior explanation or explanation in the process of suddenly eliminating the ranking table in July of this year,” and repeatedly asked, “Does it make sense that the ranking table was eliminated based on the independent judgment of the department in charge?”

In response, Governor Shin responded, “I explained in advance to reporters at the Bank that I did not include the ranking table in the press release this time,” and added, “I understood everything to a certain extent.”

However, in reality, as criticized by Rep. Kim, the ranking table was arbitrarily deleted and the problem was pointed out through media reports, sparking controversy that President Shin gave a false explanation.

President Shin later had the opportunity to speak and reversed his original answer, saying, "To be specific, my intention was to give sufficient verbal explanations in advance to the inquiries of (individual) reporters before the press release went out and the embargo period (grace before reporting) ended."

He answered "Yes" to the question of Chairman Cho Seung-rae of the Finance and Economy Committee, "Are you saying you didn't make a plan and explain it in advance?"