Seoul, Dec 19 (IANS): South Korea's economic fundamentals would not change with the death of North Korea's top leader Kim Jong-il, a senior official at Moody's said Monday.

"We will continue to rate South Korea on the basis of its economic, institutional and government financial fundamentals. These will not change on account of the death of Kim Jong-il," Thomas Byrne, a senior vice president at Moody's in Singapore, said.

Kim Jong-il died Saturday during a train journey from what the country's official KCNA news agency described as "a great mental and physical strain". He was 69.

Byrne said that the potential risks such as a collapse of North Korea or an outbreak of war between the two Koreas seemed to be remote even under the current uncertainty about the leadership transition in Pyongyang, reported Xinhua.

He also noted that the recent signing into law of the US-Korea free trade agreement would reinforce economic ties between the two countries.

Moody's assigned the sovereign credit rating for South Korea at A1 with stable outlook.