The Nice Credit Rating Agency and Standard & Poor’s (S&P) jointly hosted a press seminar on the 4th in Yeouido, Seoul. According to Nice Credit Rating, the international credit rating agency S&P assessed that the martial law situation in Korea would have “no substantial impact” on the country’s sovereign credit rating.
Kim Eng Tan, an executive director at S&P, stated at the seminar that “martial law was lifted within a few hours and Korea’s institutional foundation is robust,” concluding that there are “no real reasons to change the evaluation method or alter Korea’s current credit rating (long-term rating AA).”
Louis Kuijs, another executive director at S&P, commented, “Countries like France are already experiencing political conflicts and chaos,” and despite not being a specialist in Korean politics, observed that “this case does not seem to stem from significant disagreement over economic and financial policy direction.”
He further explained, “When there are significant domestic disagreements over economic and financial policies, it becomes difficult to resolve the situation, and uncertainty increases. However, this is not one of those cases,” suggesting that although uncertainty in any form is not beneficial, it may gradually find resolution.
Lee Hyuk-jun, an executive director at Nice Credit Rating, recalled that during the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye and the election period from 2016 to 2017, there were fluctuations in the market, but indices such as the stock market and interest rates eventually returned to normal over time, indicating that “investors make judgments based on fundamentals.”