Finance minister Choo Kyung-ho said authorities are keeping a close eye on the weakening Korean won, which slid past the one-thousand-380-won-to-the-dollar mark on Wednesday.

At a roundtable hosted by the Korea Broadcasting Journalists Club, Choo said authorities will take appropriate steps to stabilize the market if necessary.

The minister said the expansion of uncertainties within the foreign exchange market is unfavorable for the financial market and economy as a whole.

Attributing the jump in imports and resulting national trade deficit to soaring oil and energy prices, Choo gave assurances that authorities are closely monitoring current account trends and the inflow and outflow of foreign currency.

He added, however, that the nation's foreign exchange reserves are the world's ninth largest, and that the International Monetary Fund(IMF) recently assessed that it is enough to cushion the impact of volatility in the exchange market.