Korea Moves to 24-Hour FX Trading in Bid to Globalize the Won

South Korea is preparing to keep its foreign exchange market open around the clock, a structural change that Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol framed on July 6 as the “starting point for the won’s global leap.” Speaking as the ministry released details of the plan, Koo argued that continuous trading would deepen the appeal of both the won and the wider Korean capital market to overseas investors.

What Is Changing

The core shift is the move from a time-boxed trading session to a 24-hour foreign exchange market. In practical terms, that means the won could be bought and sold across global time zones rather than only during Seoul’s domestic business hours. For a currency whose accessibility has historically been constrained by limited onshore trading windows, extending the clock is aimed squarely at making the won easier to hold, hedge and settle for participants based in London, New York and other financial centers.

Koo positioned the measure not as a technical adjustment but as a signal of intent: that Korea wants the won treated as a more freely tradable, globally integrated currency rather than one accessible mainly to domestic and regional players.

Why It Matters for the Won

Currency internationalization tends to follow accessibility. When foreign investors can transact in a currency at the hours that suit their own markets, the friction and timing risk of moving in and out of that currency falls. The government’s argument, as presented by Koo, is that reducing this friction should raise the structural attractiveness of the won — and, by extension, of the Korean assets denominated in it.

That logic connects directly to Korea’s longer-running ambition to see its equity and bond markets reclassified and more fully absorbed into global benchmarks. A market that trades only during a narrow local window is harder for large international funds to operate in; one that trades continuously removes a recurring operational objection.

The Case for a Stronger Capital Market

Koo’s framing ties the FX reform to the health of Korea’s broader capital market. The reasoning runs in both directions: a more accessible currency should draw more foreign capital into Korean stocks and bonds, while deeper foreign participation in those markets should in turn reinforce demand for the won. The minister’s emphasis on “attractiveness” points to a competitive motive — Korea is measuring itself against other advanced Asian financial hubs where continuous or near-continuous currency access is already the norm.

What Remains to Be Seen

The announcement sets the direction, but the market impact will depend on execution. Continuous trading raises practical questions around overnight liquidity, the role of market makers outside Seoul hours, and how volatility is managed when domestic participants are offline. The government has described the change as a beginning rather than a finished reform, which suggests further operational detail — on supervision, settlement infrastructure and safeguards — will follow.

For now, the message from the finance ministry is one of ambition: that opening the won’s market to the world’s clock is a deliberate step toward opening the won itself to the world.