South Korea's Ministry of Economy & Finance convened a joint Market Situation Review Meeting with the Bank of Korea, the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service to assess financial and foreign exchange market conditions linked to the Middle East war and to agree response priorities. The authorities judged that market volatility could persist and that developments around the United States–Iran negotiations could further amplify swings in oil prices and financial and FX markets. Bond market volatility was assessed to have eased, supported by market-stabilisation measures including a KRW 5 trillion emergency buyback, while a foreign exchange market stabilisation tax package has passed the National Assembly. Participants also pointed to strong take-up of the Domestic Market Return Account (RIA) launched on 23 March, and noted that Korea’s government bond inclusion in the World Government Bond Index (WGBI) officially began on 1 April, coinciding with KRW 4.4 trillion of net foreign purchases of Korean government bonds over 30 March to 1 April, led by Japan-sourced flows; a joint standing monitoring and investment-attraction taskforce will track inflows. Separately, the supplementary budget bill submitted to the National Assembly was assessed as lifting growth by 0.2 percentage points with limited inflation impact, with a commitment to accelerate parliamentary passage and implementation preparations and, if passed, to actively deploy about KRW 27 trillion of policy finance (KRW 26.8 trillion in the proposal) via policy lenders and the credit guarantee fund to support affected firms; the agencies also agreed to respond strictly to online claims about forced US dollar sales, including requesting a police investigation. The Deputy Prime Minister is scheduled to visit financial institutions on 3 April to review RIA sign-ups and market reception.

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