1st LD: S.Korea's central bank freezes benchmark rate at 1.5 pct

SEOUL, May 24 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's central bank on Thursday froze its benchmark interest rate as it refrained from altering it since November last year.

Bank of Korea (BOK) Governor Lee Ju-yeol and six other policy board members left the seven-day repurchase rate unchanged at 1.5 percent.

The bank raised the policy rate in November last year to the current rate from an all-time low of 1.25 percent, the first rate hike in almost six and a half years. Since then, the rate has been unchanged. Enditem