Financial authorities in South Korea vowed to take steps to stabilize the local market if deemed necessary after the U.S. Federal Reserve's surprise rate cut.

At an emergency meeting of officials on Wednesday, First Vice Finance Minister Kim Yong-beom said a contingency plan will be enforced, under coordinated monitoring by related agencies, should market volatility expand abnormally.

Kim said the government plans to set up an around-the-clock monitoring system of global financial and foreign exchange markets and hold macroeconomic financial meetings whenever necessary.

The meeting came shortly after the U.S. Fed voted unanimously to slash its key rate by half a percentage point to a target range of between one percent and one-point-25 percent in response to the growing economic risk posed by the new coronavirus outbreak.

The decision was made Tuesday during the Fed's emergency meeting, the first of its kind since 2008, ahead of its upcoming Federal Open Market Committee meeting.