SEOUL, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- South Korean Minister of Economy and Finance Hong Nam-ki vowed Wednesday to take rapid and bold steps to tackle an increased volatility in the financial market.
Hong, who doubles as deputy prime minister for economic affairs, made the remarks during an emergency meeting with the chiefs of the central bank, the financial regulator and the financial watchdog.
"The recently increased volatility in the financial market resulted from internal and external risk factors, overlapped in the short period of time... (The government) will rapidly and boldly deal with them through all available measures," Hong said.
The minister cited stock market stabilization measures, eased regulations on buybacks and tightened rules on stock short-selling as the available measures.
Hong said global stocks weakened overall on the back of the global trade dispute, worry about the global economic slowdown and uncertainties over the U.S. interest rate cut.
Hit by the worsened external conditions, South Korea's export reduced for the eighth straight month to July, leading to the corporate investment slump and the poor corporate earnings, Hong noted.
Adding to the uncertainties, Japan removed South Korea last week from its whitelist of trusted trading partners that are given preferential export treatment.
Hong vowed to take bold and preemptive steps if excessive moves occur in the financial market, saying the financial authorities will pay a special attention to the volatility in the foreign exchange market.
