BOK mulling setting up team to study unification-related issues

South Korea's top central banker said Saturday that the Bank of Korea (BOK) is considering setting up a team to deal with currency and economic integration related to inter-Korean unification.

BOK Gov. Lee Ju-yeol, speaking to reporters during his visit to Washington, D.C., said the central bank needs to play a role in studying unification issues from the economic perspective.

Lee is visiting the U.S. capital to participate in a meeting of finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20.

"A variety of economic issues such as currency integration will be dealt with," Lee said.

The BOK releases estimates on North Korea's economy every year by compiling information obtained from South Korea's spy agency, but it has no specific personnel set aside to study the economic side of national unification.

As for the monetary policy, he reiterated that the central bank needs to send sufficient policy signals.

"It would be difficult for economic agents to make decisions if the central bank unexpectedly adjusts the key rate," Lee said.

Lee, a former senior deputy governor at the BOK, took helm of the central bank on April 1 and vowed to operate the monetary policy in a consistent and predictable manner.

His predecessor, Kim Choong-soo, had been under criticism from the market as he sent muddled policy signals and often surprised the market by unexpectedly changing the benchmark interest rate.

Lee said that the reason the BOK unveils a revised growth outlook four times per year is to guide the market in predicting the monetary policy stance.

"(As far as I'm concerned), an expectation for a rate cut is seen as low in the market," Lee noted.

On Thursday when he presided over his first rate-setting session, he said that the BOK could consider raising the key rate in a pre-emptive manner if demand-pull inflationary pressure rises, hinting at a somewhat hawkish stance. (Yonhap)