South Korea said Tuesday it will step up alert against instability in the global financial market from the unrest in Ukraine and tension from North Korea's recent firing of short-range missiles.

Russia's financial market roiled on Monday as the international community denounced its intrusive move on Ukraine. The tension later spilled over into other European financial markets whose stock markets markedly lost ground.

The North added to the market anxiety by launching short-range missiles on Monday, raising tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

"The global financial markets had shown some level of stability in February, but the unrest in Ukraine is spawning anxiety and resulting in strengthening safer assets such as the dollar and the yen, and weakening currencies and stocks in emerging markets," Vice Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho told a meeting with other policymakers convened to review the latest financial market situations.

"We need to take a close look at the fact that the number of countries categorized as emerging economies is increasing, and the anxiety is simultaneously spreading into East Europe, Asia, South America and other major emerging economic blocks," he said.

Geopolitical risks also linger after the North fired short-range missiles, he said. "The impact on our financial market remains limited, but we still need to keep tabs on the situation."

The government will particularly intensify its monitoring of emerging market instability linked to Ukraine, Choo said.

"If unstable situations occur in financial markets, relevant government ministries and agencies will react swiftly and aggressively in accordance with contingency plans prepared for each possible scenario," he said. (Yonhap)