Japanese Ambassador Takano: Currency Integration among Korea, Japan, and China on the Way

Japanese Ambassador Takano: Currency Integration among Korea, Japan, and China on the Way. October. 27, 2004 23:14. by Hyong-gwon Pu bookum90@donga.com.

Reveals: ROK Government Calls it a “Mid-to-Long Term Task”

Japanese Ambassador to Korea Toshiyuki Takano on October 27, regarding the issuance of a combined currency for Korea, Japan, and China, commented, “We have made some progress, and I believe more progress will be made on the talks about the issue.”

Ambassador Takano was asked to comment on “the proposal of combining the currency of Korea, China and Japan as the European Union has done” at a discussion on the topic of “The Present Situation and the Future Task of Korea-Japan Cultural Exchange” hosted by Korea Regional Policy Institute at the Hyatt Hotel in Seoul on the morning of October 27.

He answered, “[Of course,] the currency integration is not a matter to be decided overnight, and it needs meticulous preparation to help ready the political and economic systems of each nation,” and added, “I believe this issue [of currency integration] needs close cooperation between Korea and Japan as well.”

The issue of having a single currency for the Northeast Asian countries has been suggested by some scholars but never before by an ambassador from a major nation.

An official from the Korean government said, “Combining the currency of Northeast Asia was mentioned as a possibility in the academia as a concept of having a ‘common currency,’” and added, “However, it is not a pending issue to be dealt with by either nation on government level, but a mid-to-long term task to be attended to.”