On Thursday, the Bank of Korea backtracked on its comments of further intervention in the foreign exchange markets on a sharp fall of the US dollar overnight, according to the Financial Times.

“I believe that we now have sufficient reserves to secure our sovereign credibility, so I do not anticipate increasing the amount of foreign reserves further,” said Park Seung, the Bank of Korea governor. “No, no, we will not be intervening,” he added when asked if the bank would intervene.

On Thursday, the bank confirmed that there was a «misunderstanding» about its statement. To contain the won, the Bank of Korea had to buy in the foreign exchange markets taking its reserves to $206 billion, the fourth-biggest reserves over the globe.

The won appreciated about 30% against the US dollar over the past three years. It climbed 17% against the dollar in 2004.

“We now need to take more consideration of profitability, and I think we’re at a stage where we need to manage our reserves in a more useful way,” Mr. Park added.