Free-falling yen takes its toll on South Korea's export muscle

Seoul

AS Japan slips into recession, South Korea is keeping an increasingly wary eye on its export rival's free-falling currency, which is honing a lasting competitive edge over Korean products in a number of key markets.

The massive fiscal stimulus and flood of easy money unleashed by "Abenomics" has sent the Japanese yen plunging to multi-year lows against a basket of major currencies. In the past two years, the yen has lost around 33 per cent of its value against the US dollar and 35 per cent against the Korean won - a depreciation that has triggered public expressions of concern in Seoul from industrialists, politicians and monetary policy-setters.