Finance minister urges better communication with foreign media

SEOUL, March 18 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun called Wednesday for increased efforts to remove "misunderstandings" that foreign media have about the health of the nation's economy.

Yoon said that he had a chance to explain South Korea's current economic
conditions to foreign officials during the Group of 20 finance minister meeting
in London last week and it was "rewarding" in terms of easing their unfounded
worries.
He asked for economy-related ministers to step up efforts to communicate with
foreign media "around the clock" and build "trust" with them in order to reduce
misunderstandings.
The remarks, made during a weekly crisis management meeting, came as South Korean
financial markets have been buffeted by spreading rumors that they could face a
crisis as a large chunk of foreign capital could leave the country this month.
This caused some foreign media outlets to raise questions about the ability of
the Korean economy to pay off maturing debts, which the government brushed off as
excessive worries based on groundless rumors.