The Bank of Korea (BOK) is the central bank of South Korea and issuer of South Korean won. It was established on June 12, 1950 at Seoul, South Korea.

The Bank's primary purpose is price stability. For that, the Bank targets inflation. The 2010–12 target is consumer price inflation of 3.0 ± 1%.

The Bank of Korea was established on June 12, 1950 under the Bank of Korea Act.

Following liberation on August 15, 1945, the Korean economy was plunged into turmoil. Tackling the severe inflation and financial disorder brought about by an acute shortage of resources and the division of the country along the 38th parallel was the immediate priority.

In this situation, discussions raged across the country on establishing a central bank for the Republic of Korea and Dr. A. I. Bloomfield, dispatched from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, drafted the Bank of Korea Act.

Based on this draft, the Bank of Korea Act was passed in May 1950 and the Bank launched its operations as a central bank on June 12, 1950. It was given a wide range of functions in relation to monetary & financial policy, bank supervision, and foreign exchange policy.

Korea (/kəˈriːə/ kə-REE-ə; Korean: 한국 Hanguk [hanɡuːk] or 조선 Joseon [tɕosʌn] – (see etymology) is an East Asian region that is divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the east by the Korea Strait and the Sea of Japan (East Sea), and separated from Taiwan to the south by the East China Sea.

Archaeological and linguistic evidence suggest the origins of the Korean people might have been Altaic language-speaking people from south-central Siberia,^{[dubious – discuss]} who populated ancient Korea in successive waves from the Neolithic age to the Bronze Age. The adoption of the Chinese writing system ("Hanja" in Korean) in the 2nd century BC, and Buddhism in the 4th century AD, had profound effects on the Three Kingdoms of Korea.

The Three Kingdoms of Korea was first united during the Silla dynasty under the king Munmu of Silla. The united Silla dynasty fell to Goryeo Dynasty in 935 at the end of Later Three Kingdoms of Korea era. Goryeo was a highly cultural state and created the Jikji in the 14th century, using the world's first movable metal type printing press. The Mongol invasions in the 13th century, however, greatly weakened the nation which was forced to become a tributary state. After the Mongol Empire's collapse, severe political strife followed and Goryeo was replaced by the Joseon Dynasty in 1388.

Kim Choongsoo(김중수, 金仲秀, born on June 6, 1947) is Governor of the Bank of Korea.

After graduating from Kyunggi High School in Seoul in 1966, he entered Seoul National University and graduated with a degree in Economics in 1973. He received a Ph.D degree in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania, U.S.A. in 1979.

In 1979, he started his professional career as Senior Research Associate at the Center for Human Resource Research, Ohio State University, U.S.A. He returned to Korea in 1983 and served at the Korea Development Institute (KDI) as Senior Economist for ten years. His research areas at KDI included macroeconomic policy management, manpower and social welfare policy.

In early 1993, Kim was named Secretary to the President for Economic Affairs at the Office of the President. In March 1995, as Korea applied for a membership to the OECD, he was appointed as Minister and Head of the OECD Office at the Korean Embassy in Paris, to be in charge of the accession negotiations with the OECD.