Despite persistent concerns over the United States’ tapering policies and the resulting stall in emerging economies, Vice Minister Hyun Oh-seok displayed optimism, saying Korea will not be much affected in the long-term perspective.

He nevertheless demanded that financial monitoring systems be reinforced so that the country may respond rapidly to fluctuating global situations.

“Instead of reacting to every up and down of the global financial market, we will focus more on improving the fundamentals of our economic strength,” Hyun said in the economic ministerial meeting held at the Export-Import Bank of Korea on Wednesday.

The key point is to take the nation’s economy to a higher level so that it may clearly differentiate itself from other emerging markets and stand apart from variables, he explained.

Since last week, Korea’s financial market has largely been disturbed by the U.S. tapering policies and the resulting blow on some of the world’s emerging economies but the vice minister’s remarks had largely been optimistic.

“(The current financial unstableness) is not such a big shock (to the Korean economy),” Hyun told reporters on Tuesday.

He added, however, that the ongoing aftermath of the U.S. move is moving beyond emerging countries and spreading out to more developed economies, to which he expressed concern and asked for alertness.

Amid the mounting concerns about local and external financial outlooks, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed at 1,891.32, up by 4.47 points, and the exchange rate at 1,077.9 won per dollar, down by 5.9 won from the previous day.

Despite such rosy signals, foreign investors continued to remain skeptical over the situation and sold 289.4 billion won ($268.5 million) on Wednesday, slowing down the market’s recovery.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)