The U.S. Treasury Department keeps South Korea on a semiannual “monitoring list” of countries whose foreign exchange policies it watches, according to its latest Report to Congress on Macroeconomic and Foreign Exchange Policies of Major Trading Partners of the United States. The updated list includes South Korea, China, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Germany, Ireland and Switzerland, and all 10 were also on the list in the previous edition released in January. The report notes that South Korea was removed from the monitoring list in November 2023 for the first time since April 2016, but it was added back in November 2024 and remains on the list. In the latest findings, the report says South Korea’s current account surplus rises “considerably” to 6.6% of gross domestic product last year, up from 5.3% in 2024, attributing much of the increase to goods trade, particularly semiconductors and other technology-related products. The report also highlights that the Korean won faces “sustained” depreciation. Countries generally qualify for monitoring when they meet two of three criteria set under the U.S. Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015, including thresholds for trade and current account balances and one-sided currency market intervention for a prolonged period.