US Defense Sec. Esper: Continues to face threats from North Korea, other rogue states – Yonhap

Early Wednesday morning in Asia, South Korea’s Yonhap quoted US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper while terming North Korea as the rogue nation. The comments from the American diplomat also suggested that the world’s biggest economy needs to further enhance his country's alliances and defense capabilities, per the news.

Other than citing the threats from North Korea and Iran, the US completion with Russia and China could also be found in the excerpts of the speech.

Market implications

The news failed to offer any immediate market moves, mainly because of the general inactivity around this time of the day as well as major attention on the US coronavirus (COVID-19) stimulus talks. However, the USD/KRW bounces off the lowest since April 2013 to 1,139.50 by press time. The reason could be traced from the US dollar’s safe-haven demand amid times when the US and North Korea are already talking denuclearization.