ROK to monitor financial market amid DPRK risks

SEOUL - The Republic of Korea's top financial regulator said Monday that financial market conditions should be monitored more thoroughly amid resurfacing risks related to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"North Korea (DPRK) risks eased recently, but the North resumed its provocation over the weekend by launching short-range missiles," Financial Services Commission (FSC) Chairman Shin Je-yoon said at a meeting with officials.

Shin urged officials to thoroughly monitor the movement of foreign funds and foreign currency liquidity amid the resumed geopolitical risks on the Korean Peninsula.

The DPRK fired a short-range projectile into the East Sea on Sunday after launching three short-range projectiles in a northeasterly direction over the DPRK waters in the previous day.

The Ministry of Defense originally said that the missiles were short-range guided ones, but it started to call them projectiles given the possibility that they could be new type of artillery shells.

The defense authorities estimated that the projectiles may be KN-02 surface-to-surface missiles with a range up to 160 kilometers or new type of artillery shells of at least 300 millimeters in caliber.