SEOUL, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Global credit rating company Fitch maintained South Korea's sovereign rating at AA- with a stable outlook, Seoul's finance ministry said Thursday citing the rating appraiser.
It was the fourth-highest in Fitch's rating tier, and the highest ever won by South Korea, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.
Fitch said tensions were escalated on the Korean Peninsula, but it noted that it was not new and showed the similar past "pattern of rise-and-fall cycles."
"While the current level of tension is high, strains on the Korean Peninsula are not new, and have followed a familiar pattern of rise-and-fall cycles in the past," Fitch said in a statement.
Tensions were heightened on the peninsula following the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s sixth test of its nuclear device and the bombastic war of rhetoric between the DPRK and the United States.
Fitch said that though an outright war on the peninsula will be averted, the tensions had the potential to negatively affect the South Korean economy if current strong business and consumer sentiment start to worsen or if exports weaken.
