[THE INVESTOR] The South Korean government has a number of contingency plans in case China takes economic action in retaliation for Seoul’s decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, the finance minister said on July 13.

Speaking at the National Assembly, Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho, who also doubles as deputy prime minister for economic affairs, said that Seoul has contingency plans for a number of scenarios, but that major economic reprisal is not considered likely. 


“A full scale (reprisal) some news outlets talk of has not materialized,” Yoo said.

“When Korean and Chinese economy ministers met in February, THAAD was not mentioned but it was expressed that politics and economy were separate issues, and China also responded in kind.”

Yoo added that while international trade is affected by politics, he does not expect China to stage an all-out economic revenge.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)