EM ASIA FX-Won shrugs off Trump's threat to "totally destroy" North Korea

(Adds text, updates prices)

By Anusha Ravindranath

Sept 20 (Reuters) - The South Korean won

strengthened against the dollar on Wednesday, brushing aside

U.S. President Donald Trump's statement that the United States

may have to "totally destroy" North Korea.

Most other emerging Asian currencies were trading mixed

while the dollar edged up as traders awaited the outcome of the

Federal Reserve's meeting at which the Fed was expected to

announce plans to trim its bond holdings.

In a speech to the U.N. General Assembly, Trump on Tuesday

said the U.S. will be forced to destroy North Korea unless

Pyongyang backs down from its nuclear challenge, mocking North

Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a "rocket man" on a suicide

mission.

Tuesday warning follows similar Trump statements, in which

he vowed to unleash "fire and fury" if Pyongyang threatened the

United States's safety.

"We believe it's more about posturing but in reality there

seem to be few options to resolve this issue outside of talks.

Market behaviour largely reflects that," said Tariq Ali,

investment strategist at Standard Chartered Bank.

"Generally, markets are used to these kind of statements

comming from both sides and they are not paying too much

attention to North Korea at this time and are focused on the Fed

meeting," Ali added.

The won, which has been pressured of late amid the ongoing

political tensions was unswayed by Trump's strong rhetoric and

gained as much as 0.4 percent versus the dollar.

China's yuan regained its footing after weakening

in the previous session, while Taiwan dollar hit its

highest in more than two weeks.

PHILIPPINE PESO

The peso rose to its highest in more than a week

to trade at 50.80 against the dollar, before paring gains.

The central bank said on Tuesday that the Philippines'

balance of payment deficit stood at $1.39 billion as of

end-August, narrower than in the same period last year.

"I think there have been a lot of inflows lately, and it's

been boosting the peso" said Jason Manalac, a trader at

Philippine Bank of Communications.

"But looks like some coprorate demand came in through for

dollars and probably that's why it (peso) went back to 50.93,"

he added.

The following table shows rates for Asian currencies against the

dollar at 0437 GMT.

CURRENCIES VS U.S. DOLLAR

Change on the day at

0437 GMT

Currency Latest Previous Pct

bid day Move

Japan yen 111.480 111.58 +0.09

Sing dlr 1.346 1.3464 +0.03

Taiwan dlr 30.102 30.137 +0.12

Korean won 1128.20 1131.3 +0.27

0

Baht 33.074 33.075 +0.00

Peso 50.930 50.915 -0.03

Rupiah 13270.0 13275 +0.04

00

Rupee 64.305 64.33 +0.03

Ringgit 4.192 4.19 -0.04

Yuan 6.568 6.5860 +0.28

Change so far

Currency Latest End 2016 Pct

bid Move

Japan yen 111.480 117.07 +5.01

Sing dlr 1.346 1.4490 +7.65

Taiwan dlr 30.102 32.279 +7.23

Korean won 1128.20 1207.70 +7.05

0

Baht 33.074 35.80 +8.24

Peso 50.930 49.72 -2.38

Rupiah 13270.0 13470 +1.51

00

Rupee 64.305 67.92 +5.62

Ringgit 4.192 4.4845 +6.99

Yuan 6.568 6.9467 +5.77

(Reporting by Anusha Ravindranath in Bengaluru)