Financial authorities issued a rare verbal warning on Monday after the won briefly surpassed 1,430 against the U.S. dollar for the first time in 18 months.

In a statement to reporters, the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Bank of Korea said they were closely monitoring markets amid heightened volatility driven by both domestic and external factors.

It marks the first verbal intervention since April 2024 and came as the won opened at 1,430 per dollar before climbing to as high as 1,434.

Following the authorities’ comments, the currency stabilized in the upper 1,420 range.

Analysts have attributed the weakness to renewed U.S.-China trade tensions, a prolonged U.S. government shutdown and stalled Korea-U.S. tariff negotiations.