South Korea's financial regulator says it has begun monitoring markets around the clock to take swift actions against any unusual developments.
 
Zhin Woong-seob, governor of the Financial Supervisory Service(FSS), held an emergency meeting on Monday morning to review contingency measures.
 
Zhin said that geopolitical risks in the region have significantly increased with North Korea’s continued missile provocations and that it is difficult to predict the situation on the Korean Peninsula as the North went ahead with a nuclear test, despite intense sanctions by the international community.
 
Zhin said regional tensions could rise to their "highest level" over a confrontation between the U.S. and North Korea.
 
The FSS chief ordered related agencies to enter an emergency mode to monitor the market conditions around the clock, such as foreign capital flows and foreign currency liquidity levels at local banks.