Moody’s, S&P Say Kim Death Unlikely to Alter S. Korea Rating

The death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is unlikely to affect South Korea’s sovereign ranking even as the event brings the risk of a difficult transition, credit rating companies said.

Moody’s Investors Service will continue to rate South Korea on economic and financial “fundamentals,” Thomas Byrne, a senior vice president in Singapore, said in a telephone interview today. Standard & Poor’s ranking of the country has taken into account “temporary disruptions in security risks,” credit analyst Kim Eng Tan said in a separate interview.