	s korean  surplus with u s seen falling south korea s record billion dlrs  surplus with the u s is bound to diminish as the country switches purchases from japan in favor of u s companies  minister woong bae rha said he rejected suggestions the korean won is undervalued and denied any plans for a drastic and sudden revaluation rha is heading a  mission to u s cities last year south korea ran a billion dlr  surplus including a record billion surplus with the u s and a billion dlr deficit with japan rha told reuters in an interview the current  mission is looking for billion dlrs in purchases from u s companies about a quarter of which represents transferred purchases from japanese sources rha said the items being sought by the current mission are mainly chemicals machinery and parts he said south korea is the fourth largest importer of u s agricultural products the current mission is not involved in that area but there are plans to buy substantial amounts of cotton from the u s he noted his country is clearly not as open as the american market nor is it reasonable to expect that it should be considering south korea has a billion dlr foreign debt and spends six pct of its gross national product on defense reuter 
