The Bank of Korea raised its key interest rate by a quarter percentage point on Thursday in a move to contain rising inflationary pressure.

The central bank's monetary policy board convened a rate-setting meeting and decided to raise the policy rate from one-point-50 percent to one-point-75 percent.

The hike comes a month after the BOK lifted the rate by a quarter percentage point. It marks the first time in nearly 15 years that the central bank raised the key rate for the second consecutive month.

Including the latest hike, the central bank has carried out five rate hikes over some nine months since August last year, amounting to a combined one-point-25 percentage points.

The rate hike is seen as a move to deal with soaring consumer prices and the U.S. Federal Reserve's hawkish monetary policy.

In April, consumer prices spiked four-point-eight percent from a year earlier, the fastest on-year gain since October 2008.
 
Earlier this month, the U.S. Fed took a "big step" to raise its key rate by half of a percentage point to a range of zero-point-75 percent to one percent.