Bank of Korea unexpectedly holds policy rate amid won slide

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BOK holds interest rate steady at 3.00%

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Only seven of 34 economists polled foresaw outcome

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Won recently plunged to 15-year low against U.S. dollar

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Most board members are open to a near-term rate cut

(Adds comments from Governor Rhee in paragraphs 2,7-8)

By Cynthia Kim and Jihoon Lee

SEOUL, Jan 16 (Reuters) - South Korea's central bank unexpectedly left its policy interest rate unchanged on Thursday, weighing the impact of its back-to-back cuts last year while supporting the won which weakened to a 15-year low versus the U.S. dollar in recent weeks.

Six of the bank's seven board members said the Bank of Korea should be open to rate cuts in the next three months, Governor Rhee Chang-yong said at a news conference after the board held a policy review and decided to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 3.00%.

Only seven of 34 economists polled by Reuters had forecast no change in the rate level, while the remaining 27 had expected a third consecutive 25 basis-point cut, which would have been the first time since 2009 that it had cut at three straight meetings.

The decision is the first since impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol's attempt to impose martial law in early December threw Asia's fourth-largest economy into its biggest political crisis in decades. The turmoil prompted the government to cut its 2025 economic growth forecast to 1.8% from 2.2%.

The crash of Jeju Air flight 7C2216, which killed 179 people in the country's deadliest air disaster, has also weighed on the economy.

The won's slide is a major concern for policymakers. In the final three months of 2024, the currency weakened 10.6% against the dollar, its biggest quarterly drop since the third quarter of 2008.

Governor Rhee said the rate decision reflected a need to support the won "which in part has been weakening due to political reasons."

"We will be able to make a more independent decision from U.S. monetary policies to cut policy rates once (domestic) political conflicts stabilise somewhat," Rhee said, adding that currency authorities had been conducting smoothing operations to support the won.

Local currency dealers said apart from smoothing operations in the onshore dollar-won market, South Korea had also been relying on the National Pension Service's currency hedging operations to support the won.

South Korea's policy sensitive 3-year treasury bond futures sharply trimmed earlier gains after the rate decision. The won initally gained against the dollar, but then pulled back.

In a statement released shortly after its policy decision, the central bank said it expected 2025 economic growth to be slower than the 1.9% it had projected earlier due to weaker exports and deteriorating consumer sentiment.

"Elevated exchange rates could potentially exert upward pressure (on consumer prices), and uncertainties have increased related to global oil prices as well as economic growth at home and abroad," it also said in the statement.

Economists see the central bank eyeing a more gradual pace of interest rate reductions in the year ahead.

"It seems the Bank of Korea was also pressured to hold rates today by news headlines of 'three consecutive rate cuts'. Its policy stance of monetary easing remains intact, and market reaction still seems to indicate a rate cut next month," said Daishin Securities economist Kong Dong-rak.

Median forecasts in the Reuters poll pointed to one interest rate cut of 25 basis points this quarter and cuts of the same degree in both the second and third quarters taking the rate to 2.25%. (Reporting by Cynthia Kim and Jihoon Lee; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Neil Fullick)