International Reserves in South Korea

South Korea's international reserves: foreign currency, gold, special drawing rights (SDRs) and the reserve position at the IMF held by the Bank of Korea. They measure the country's capacity to back the won and meet its external obligations.

The end-of-month sum of the market value of foreign currency, gold, SDRs and the IMF reserve position, expressed in US dollars.

Ample reserves give the Bank of Korea room to stabilise the won and intervene in the currency market, and signal external strength to markets. A marked fall may be read as intervention to curb won depreciation.

The level is affected by the valuation of gold and exchange rates and by intervention, so the monthly change does not always reflect genuine flows.