Finance minister dismisses financial market jitters as 'groundless'

South Korea's finance minister Tuesday dismissed anxiety over the overall financial market conditions as "groundless," placing emphasis on the country's relatively strong fiscal and economic fundamentals. "Major lessons that we have learned from financial crises in the past were that we should neither trust our economy too much nor feel complacent about it," Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok told a meeting with other economy-related policymakers. "But we should also know that any groundless anxiety is not desirable either." He said that unlike other emerging countries, South Korea maintains its current account and fiscal status in surplus and that major foreign investment banks and media are paying attention to its robust economic and financial fundamentals. As for concerns raised by some foreign media, which cited South Korea as one of the countries where the so-called "cheap dollar" has flowed into excessively, Hyun said, "It is not the case." "South Korea is one of the countries whose debt structures have improved the most since the quantitative easing polices that were put in place by major economies," he said. "In the case of our bond market, the overall investment base is also stable given the low ratio of foreign investment and high proportion of money invested by central banks," he added. Hyun said that the government is closely monitoring the possible impact that the external risks could have on its financial market and economic conditions. It is also stepping up information-sharing and reviewing existing contingency plans to better cope with any unexpected developments.