South Korea May Step Up Currency Defense Near 1,500 Level, Analysts Say

South Korea may step up its defense of the won should the currency weaken toward the psychologically important 1,500‑per‑dollar level, a threshold unseen since 2009, according to analysts.

The state-run National Pension Service, which has restarted selling dollars to support the won, is likely to become more active at about 1,480 to 1,500 won per dollar, said Minhyeok Lee, an economist at Kookmin Bank in Seoul. The won was trading at about 1,465 on Thursday.