Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choi Sang Mok (second from right) on Dec. 10 chairs the Emergency Meeting on Macroeconomic and Financial Issues at the Korean Federation of Banks in Seoul's Jung-gu District. (Ministry of Economy and Finance)

By Gil Kyuyoung

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choi Sang Mok on Dec. 10 said, "We will closely monitor trends on the financial and foreign exchange markets and respond to excessive volatility."

He said this in the morning while chairing the Emergency Meeting on Macroeconomic and Financial Issues at the Korean Federation of Banks in Seoul's Jung-gu District. Attending the talks were Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov. Rhee Chang Yong, Financial Services Commission Chairman Kim Byoung Hwan and Financial Supervisory Service Chairman Lee Boykhyun.

Participants agreed that the stock market has shown partial recovery thanks to the influx of buying power from institutional and foreign investors, but said they will closely track market trends and actively respond to any volatility given lingering uncertainty.

"The Bank of Korea since Dec. 4 has sufficiently supplied short-term liquidity by buying KRW 14 trillion in repurchase agreement securities," the ministry said. "Until the market shows full recovery, we will keep taking market stabilization steps like unlimited liquidity supply, a bond market stabilization fund, and corporate bond and commercial paper purchases."

Later that evening, Minister Choi in a videoconference with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen at Government Complex-Seoul explained Seoul's stable national governance and reaffirmed close bilateral cooperation in economy and finance, the ministry said on Dec. 11.

"Our economic system is strong and our emergency response system is running stably," he said. "Going forward, the deputy prime minister for economy will take the lead in proactively responding to volatility on the financial and foreign exchange markets and keeping a consistent and systematic direction in economic policy."

The ministry said Secretary Yellen responded by reaffirming the strong bilateral alliance under common democratic values and hoping for continued cooperation between Seoul and Washington.

gilkyuyoung@korea.kr