The Bank of Korea maintained the key rate at one-point-five percent on Thursday amid signs of an economic downturn. 

It was the fourth freeze since the central bank hiked the rate by a quarter of a percentage point in November. 

With the freeze, the "reversal" of interest rates between the U.S. and South Korea will continue. 

If the U.S. Federal Reserve hikes up its interest rates on June 13th as expected, the gap between South Korea and U.S. interest rates will widen to half a percentage point. 

Analysts say the local elections, which are less than a month away, was a contributing factor in the freeze.