SKorea names OECD ambassador to lead central bank

By KELLY OLSEN

SEOUL, South Korea

Economist Kim Choong-soo was named as the next governor of the Bank of Korea as the central bank debates when to raise interest rates from a record low.

Kim, South Korea's ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris, was nominated by President Lee Myung-bak, the presidential office said Tuesday.

Kim would replace Lee Seong-tae, whose four-year term as governor concludes at the end of this month. Under Lee, the Bank of Korea joined with other central banks around the world to fight the global financial crisis and economic downturn by slashing interest rates and pumping up liquidity.

The nomination requires approval by Lee's Cabinet to take effect, said Cho Hyun-jin, a foreign press spokesman at the presidential Blue House. He said the next Cabinet meeting is scheduled for March 23.

The Bank of Korea lowered its benchmark seven-day repurchase rate six times from October 2008. It last cut the rate in February 2009 to 2 percent, where it has since remained. At the bank's most recent policy meeting last week, it again left rates on hold, citing international sovereign debt concerns amid the financial crisis in Greece.

South Korea's economy has steadily recovered from the worst of the global slump and has recorded four straight quarters of economic growth.

President Lee's government has cautioned against ending the bank's easy money stance too soon, saying Asia's fourth-largest economy remains too fragile to withstand higher borrowing costs.

Kim studied economics at the prestigious Seoul National University, earned a doctorate in the same discipline at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States and was a senior secretary for economic policy in Lee's office in 2008, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.