The South Korean government said Monday that it will take immediate action against any turbulence in the local financial market and the national economy sparked by North Korea's latest missile launch.
Around 5:39 a.m., North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile, presumed to be a Scud type, from its eastern coast. It marked the communist nation's ninth missile test this year and the third since the new Moon Jae-in administration took office May 10.
(Yonhap)
The liberal government had been seeking to reach out to Pyongyang to restart the dialogue process to ease tensions.
Economy and finance-related government agencies, including the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the Financial Services Commission and the Bank of Korea held an emergency meeting to discuss ways to deal with the potential impact of the latest North Korean provocation.
The government will strengthen around-the-clock monitoring of the market and take immediate action in accordance with its established contingency plan.
It said there was no direct impact on the stock and foreign exchange markets following news reports about the missile launch.
The benchmark Kospi finished at 2,352.97 points, down 2.33 points from the previous close, while the Korean won lost ground by 1 won to close at 1,121.7 against the US dollar. (Yonhap)