The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday dismissed fears of a second financial crisis in South Korea, saying the country's fundamentals are much stronger than in 1997.
Financial markets have been spooked by concerns of possible massive capital flight this month, when bonds worth 6.71 billion dollars held by foreigners mature.
The Korean won closed Wednesday at 1,148.5 to the dollar, down 14.5 won from Tuesday and the lowest level since October 2004.
The IMF said some parallels had been drawn to 1997 given the rising external debt, a weakening currency and the current account moving into deficit.
"It is important to emphasise that these similarities are largely superficial, and the fundamentals of Korea today are much stronger than 10 years ago," said the IMF's resident representative Meral Karasulu.
She said much of the short-term foreign debt was linked to currency hedging by Korean exporters and investors abroad.