Moody's Says War With North Korea Would Be 'Credit Negative' For Seoul
From the WSj's MoneyBeat:
From the people who didn’t exactly cover themselves in
glory a decade ago during the financial crisis come some not-very
reassuring words about South Korea. Moody’s Investors Service thinks
that a military conflict with North Korea would be “credit negative” for
its southern neighbor.
Moody’s gives South Korea’s vibrant economy, the fourth largest in
Asia, a relatively high AA2, between the ratings placed on peaceful,
prosperous Austria and Belgium and the same as Kuwait’s. The country’s
main stock index just hit an all-time record.
But calling a military conflict “credit negative” puts reassurances
about subprime mortgages being “contained” to shame should a conflict
actually come to pass. Aside from its 10 to 20 nuclear warheads, North
Korea has one of the world’s largest militaries and could devastate
South Korea’s main population centers with conventional artillery and
rockets.
Sounds far scarier than a basket of liar loans....
