Seoul-Washington economic ties to remain strong regardless of U.S. election results: finance chief

South Korea and the United States will maintain friendly economic relations regardless of the results of the upcoming U.S. president election based on their solid alliance, Seoul's finance minister said Friday. Choi Sang-mok made the remarks during an external economic consultation meeting with experts and officials in Seoul, where the participants discussed the recent developments regarding the November election and China's latest Communist Party congress. "It carries significance for us to look into how things will unfold regarding the U.S. election and its potential impact on our economy given our high foreign dependency in economic terms," Choi said. "In consideration of the solid alliance between South Korea and the U.S., the friendly economic cooperative relations will be maintained regardless of the election results," he added. Experts called for preemptive responses by the government as Washington, either under the Democratic or Republican leadership, is expected to further guard against China. Speaking of the Third Plenum in China held this week, the experts noted that Beijing vowed to put a focus on promoting economic recovery and urged the South Korean government to closely monitor its financial and other economic policy steps. Source: Yonhap News Agency