South Korea's central bank held interest rates steady on Thursday, as policymakers steered a cautious path amid concerns about financial stability risks stemming from rising household debt and economic pressure from U.

The country’s new president, in office for a little over a month, had just dispatched his senior deputies to Washington to try to work out a trade deal.

In a widely expected decision, the Monetary Policy Board of the Bank of Korea (BOK) held its key rate steady at 2.5 percent during a rate-setting meeting in Seoul, reports Yonhap news agency