Yen slide drawing China, S Korea flak

ALREADY in political hot water with its neighbours over Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's controversy-provoking visit last week to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, Japan is ending the year in a burst of economic flak from China and South Korea over the rapidly depreciating yen.

As the yen hit a new five-year low yesterday against the US dollar and continued sinking against other leading currencies, senior Chinese and South Korean officials expressed alarm at the Japanese currency's slide and suggested that the situation needs close watching.

The weaker yen is seen by economists as the main pillar of Mr Abe's "Abenomics" policies which have begun pulling Japan out of 15 years of deflation while propelling Tokyo stocks nearly 60 per cent higher this year to the point where the Nikkei 225 average closed yesterday at a six-year high of 16,291.31.