Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) -- China, Japan and South Korea have agreed to create a pool of $120 billion in foreign-exchange reserves to be tapped by Asian nations in case they need to protect their currencies, the Seoul Economic Daily reported, citing a South Korean official it didn’t identify.

The three nations and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations plan to announce the agreement at the ASEAN Summit to be held in Thailand from Feb. 27 to March 1, the Korean- language newspaper said.

China, Japan and South Korea will likely contribute about 80 percent of the pool and ASEAN members the rest, according to the report.

To contact the reporter on this story: William Sim in Seoul at wsim2@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 18, 2009 18:00 EST