Rising Won Has South Korea Worried

By Benzinga: By Jeff UscherSouth Korea's currency, the won, has been rising against the currencies of its major trading partners, China, the United States, the European Union and Japan. South Korea's economy is heavily dependent upon exports, which made up 44.6 percent of GDP in 2010.Since the beginning of the year, the South Korean won has risen by 6.5 percent against the U.S. dollar, 6.4 percent against the euro, five percent against the Chinese yuan and 13 percent against the Japanese yen.South Korean government officials are worried. So much so that they intervened in the currency market on Thursday, buying up to $1 billion in an effort to weaken the won, according to the Financial Times.The FT reported that South Korean officials are considering tightening restrictions on trading currency derivatives to curb the won's volatility in the currency market. South Korean deputy f...