SEOUL, Aug 26 (Reuters) - South Korea’s central bank raised its policy rate on Thursday, becoming the first major Asian economy to do so in the pandemic amid concerns record-low monetary settings are overheating demand. The Bank of Korea’s monetary policy board raised the benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 0.75%, as expected by 16 of 30 analysts surveyed by Reuters. Governor Lee Ju-yeol’s news conference will be broadcast at 0220 GMT. Reporting by Cynthia Kim, Joori Roh; Editing by Sam Holmes Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.