Korean Won Internationalization Roadmap

This is an English translation of Korea's Won Internationalization Roadmap (원화 국제화 로드맵), a joint government roadmap prepared by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and related agencies and released in July 2026. It sets out how Korea will move the won from a restricted currency toward a freely convertible currency.

What the roadmap covers

• Building offshore won-trading infrastructure and improving the FX system — 24-hour FX market, offshore won settlement system, eased FX-transaction regulation, and digital-asset settlement
• Expanding won-transaction demand — securities-market access, won-asset usability, current-account incentives, and local-currency direct trading
• Expanding won liquidity supply — night-time offshore liquidity, securities-settlement liquidity, custodian-bank capacity, and won trade finance
• A multi-layered risk-management framework — external safeguards, FX-stabilization policy, FX-soundness redesign, and macro-policy linkage
• Regulatory-easing tables and the full implementation schedule of key tasks with responsible agencies and timing

Why this edition

Korea's FX-reform announcements are released only in Korean, leaving international market participants without a timely English reference to a roadmap that directly affects offshore won trading, settlement, and hedging. This English edition provides a faithful translation — including the diagrams and implementation schedule — prepared and reviewed by H&S Partners, a licensed Korean law office.