China, ROK to cooperate in dealing with QE spillover

SEOUL - China and South Korea agreed Monday to strengthen bilateral cooperation in dealing with possible spillovers from the US Federal Reserve's tapering of its quantitative easing.

The agreement came after Xu Shaoshi, minister in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), held a meeting with his South Korean counterpart Hyun Oh-seok in Seoul on Monday to discuss various issues on macro economy and bilateral cooperation.

The two countries have held economic cooperation meetings since 1992 when South Korea and China established diplomatic ties. The meeting rose to the ministerial level in 1999 from the prior vice ministerial-level gathering.

This ministerial meeting marked the 12th of its kind and was also the first since new leaderships took office in the two countries.

The ministers agreed to "strengthen bilateral and multilateral cooperation in tackling global uncertainties arising from the US reduction in quantitative easing and sluggishness in emerging economies,"sharing views that it will have limitations for an individual country to deal with such spillover effects, according to Seoul's Finance Ministry.

The agreement came after the Fed decided to cut back its monthly bond purchases by $10 billion to $75 billion starting January next year. The reduction was feared to cause capital outflow from emerging economies.

The economic chiefs also agreed to widen its policy cooperation, especially in the service sector, under the shared view that advancement of the service industry will be mandatory for boosting domestic demand and sustainable growth.

The two sides discussed other various issues, including investment cooperation, urban development and climate change cooperation, the ministry said.