NEWS BRIEF

[Anchor Lead]

The Bank of Korea announced today that the nation’s foreign currency reserve as of late January stood at 442.73 billion dollars, a 370-million-dollar drop from the previous month. It was the first decrease since March of last year after setting record highs for seven months straight until last month. Korea’s central bank blamed the decline to a stronger U.S. dollar, which led to a reduction in the dollar-converted amount of other foreign currencies.
People’s Party mayoral candidate Ahn Cheol-soo accepted former lawmaker and mayoral candidate Keum Tae-seop’s suggestion to put forth a unified candidate from the opposition camp. Ahn said that all candidates from the opposition parties who agree with the change of power should undergo a first preliminary round to select a candidate who will face the People Power Party candidate in the second preliminary election. He also stressed that once a single candidate for the pan-opposition bloc is selected, other contenders should concede to the result and declare their support for the unified candidate.