South Korea's central bank moved quickly to minimize the fallout from what could be North Korea's nuclear test on the local economy Wednesday, convening an emergency meeting of the monetary policy board.

   "In regard to the North Korean issue, the Bank of Korea plans to hold an emergency meeting of its monetary and financial policy task force at 2 p.m. today," the bank said in a short text message.

   The decision to hold an emergency meeting comes only hours after various government agencies throughout the world, including that of China, reported detecting a temblor near the site of previous nuclear tests in the communist North.

   An official from South Korea's foreign ministry said the quake appeared to be "artificial," suggesting it could have been caused by what would be the North's fourth nuclear test.

   Since its first nuclear test in 2006, Pyongyang has conducted two additional nuclear tests, one in 2009 and the other in 2013, despite strong international opposition and various U.N. sanctions condemning them as provocations.

   The South Korean currency took another hit after it was rocked by the move by Beijing to devalue the yuan earlier in the day.

   The local currency tumbled to 1,196.50 won to the greenback as
of 11:43 a.m., down 8.5 won from the previous day.  

   Market watchers said that the dollar's rise slowed down after what may have been smoothing operations conducted by the authorities. (Yonhap)