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[BUSINESS INSIDER] South Korea is caught between cheap Chinese goods and a plunging Japanese yen

South Korea’s vast dollar reserves allow the central bank to intervene in the currency market to curb any volatile swings in the won-dollar rate. (Yonhap)
[BUSINESS INSIDER / AFP] SEOUL — As Japan slips into recession, South Korea is keeping an increasingly wary eye on its export rival’s free-falling currency, which is honing a lasting competitive edge over Korean products in a number of key markets.
The massive fiscal stimulus and flood of easy money unleashed by “Abenomics” has sent the Japanese yen plunging to multi-year lows against a basket of major currencies.
In the past two years, the yen has lost around 33 percent of its value against the US dollar and 35 percent against the Korean won — a depreciation that has triggered public expressions of concern in Seoul from industrialists, politicians and monetary policy-setters.
A weaker yen makes Japanese exports cheaper, which impacts countries such as South Korea that are direct competitors in a number of key sectors. [READ MORE]