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Sept 17 (Reuters) - The Bank of Korea has rattled the bond market and the country's finance ministry by signalling it is ready to increase interest rates to calm a surge in house prices.
That has boosted the prospect that the Bank of Korea could be the first G20 central bank to tighten policy during the financial crisis.
The central bank's position, laid out by Governor Lee Seong-tae last week, has led to a rare public spat with the finance ministry, which is urging caution by saying the economy is not ready for higher rates and remains exposed to many risks from the global downturn.
Here are five facts about Lee:
-- Lee is a career central banker. Born in 1945, he joined the central bank at the age of 22 and was handed a four-year term in the top job in 2006. He graduated from South Korea's prestigious Seoul National University and earned a master's degree in economics from the University of Illinois. Traders describe him as calmer than his predecessors, a trait they attribute in part to his stints in the central bank's media relations and research departments.
-- Korean bond futures fell the most in three months last Thursday after remarks by Lee following a Bank of Korea meeting in which he raised concern about rising house prices and said: "There can be cases in which the policy is deemed to be on an easing bias even after interest rates are raised."
-- It would not be the first time that Lee has raised rates to counter rising house prices. He led a campaign lasting more than two years until late 2008 to raise interest rates by 125 basis points to a record high of 5.25 percent to control a property boom.
-- Lee is willing to exert central bank independence from the government. Just last week he said the final decision on monetary policy rests with the central bank. While the central bank is by law independent, it is also obliged to implement policy "in harmony" with government economic policies. Still, the central bank has traditionally come under strong government pressure to support its policies. Many analysts say Lee has room to side-step government pressure now and start raising interest rates before it might want him to because his term ends in six months. He has the casting vote on any rate decision.
-- It would not be the first time that Lee has come into conflict with the government. Financial markets speculated in 2008 that he was at odds with the government shortly after President Lee Myung-bak took office early that year, hoping for a quick cut in interest rates to give a push to growth. At the time, the government was using all possible policy tools to boost the economy, but the Bank of Korea later raised rates. (Reporting by Yoo Choonsik and Seo Eun-kyung in SEOUL, editing by Jonathan Thatcher)