BoKstatement: Policy decision is surrounded with uncertainty.

South Korea's central bank kept interest rates unchanged on Thursday, matching market expectations and ending an uninterrupted run of hikes for a year.

The Bank of Korea's monetary policy board held its policy interest rate steady at 3.50%, in line with a unanimous call by the 42 economists in a Reuters poll.

Governor Rhee Chang-Yong is making statements as follows:

Economic growth to improve gradually from H2.
    
Inflation to gradually decrease.
    
Housing prices continued to decline across country.
    
Uncertainties surrounding policy decision are high.
    
Deems it warranted to keep restrictive policy stance for considerable time.