US: Prepared to help North Korea combat threat from coronavirus – Reuters

The US State Department said on Thursday that the US is “deeply concerned” about the possible impact of a coronavirus outbreak in North Korea and is prepared to help US and international organizations contain the spread of the virus, as mentioned by Reuters during Friday’s Asian session.

Key quotes

'We strongly support and encourage the work of U.S. and international aid and health organizations to counter and contain the spread of coronavirus in the DPRK,' spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement after the Red Cross called for an urgent exemption to sanctions on Pyongyang to help prevent a coronavirus outbreak.

'The United States is ready and prepared to expeditiously facilitate the approval of assistance from these organizations,' it added.

FX implications

The news should have a positive impact on the risk-tone if traders aren’t worried about China’s coronavirus. That said, the USD/JPY and AUD/USD, considered as the FX risk barometer, stay mostly unchanged around 109.80 and 0.6720 by the press time.