SEOUL, Oct 15 (Reuters) - South Korea's central bank governor said on Saturday external factors, such as aggressive U.S. policy tightening buoying the dollar and driving the won currency sharply down, made providing forward guidance on policy difficult. The Bank of Korea delivered its second-ever 50-basis-point rate hike on Wednesday and made clear the won's 6.5% slide in September that drove up import costs played a key role in the decision. "I have learned that communication with the public is not easy when transitioning from the traditional strategic ambiguity to forward guidance," Rhee said. He said that while the central bank was not targeting a specific level for the exchange rate, "it has to consider how a sharp rise in the exchange rate would affect financial stability conditions, such as capital outflow pressures." Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Jihoon Lee Editing by Tomasz JanowskiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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