The Bank of Korea (BoK) kept its base rate at 3.25% today, as expected. Volatility in the financial markets and concerns over the outlook for the global economy are likely to keep the BoK on the sidelines for a while. Nonetheless, provided a sharp global downturn is avoided, the base rate is still likely to be raised further. For now, we maintain our call for the base rate to reach 4.0% by mid-2012.