SOUTH KOREA: RBC Capital Market strategists note that the Korean govt
named Kim Choong-soo (Korea’s ambassador to the OECD) to fill the post
of BOK Governor (Incumbent Gov Lee steps down March 31). “Mr. Kim has a
PhD in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and extensive in
the Korean bureaucracy and academia, but has never worked at the Bank of
Korea before,” they say. Kim was a senior economic advisor to President
Lee Myung-bak and in the 1990s was an advisor to the finance minister.
While not much is known about Kim’s policy views, “his background
suggests, at least tentatively, that he will adopt a pro-government
approach to withdrawing policy stimulus, at least for the first few
months of his tenure,” RBCCM says. This supports RBCCM’s view that the
BOK will be on hold until Q3.