“It’s all the government’s fault that the stock market is falling apart”—President Lee’s remarks from his time as party leader come back to weigh heavily

[Financial News] As the KOSPI has fallen sharply in recent days, remarks made by President Lee Jae Myung when he was leader of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) are being revisited. At the time, amid weakness in South Korea’s stock market in November 2024, President Lee sharply criticized the government, saying, “It’s all the government’s fault that the stock market is falling apart.”

At a DPK Supreme Council meeting on Nov. 27, 2024, President Lee said, “The economy is deteriorating beyond what can be explained by the business cycle, and the underlying fundamentals of the economy—in other words, its foundations—are collapsing. One example is that the stock market is falling apart.”
He said, “There are about four clear reasons why the stock market is falling apart. They are all the government’s fault. It’s obvious,” citing the government’s lack of industrial policy, an unfair market, abuse of management and control rights, and a crisis threatening peace on the Korean Peninsula.
President Lee criticized the Yoon Suk Yeol government at the time, saying, “There is no policy setting out a vision for where South Korea’s economy is headed or what direction to take the country’s industries. It’s simply neglect. They say they’re leaving things to the market in the name of freedom, but isn’t it the government’s role to give the market direction?”
He continued, “Stock-price manipulation and abuses of management and control rights are rampant. Yet they aren’t punished. The powerful get away with everything,” and pointed out, “There’s no way international capital will invest in a market this unfair, opaque and irrational. They even pull out the investment money already here.”
He also noted, “Practices like ‘stripping out the core’ and ‘stealing the calf,’ which turn blue-chip stocks into bad stocks, are rampant,” and said, “We should manage the security situation well and build confidence in peace, but instead we are provoking the other side and botching diplomacy, turning the Korean Peninsula into a region at risk of war.”

He said, “We will do what we can, even as the opposition,” and stated that he would seek to pass, during the regular session, an amendment to the Commercial Act that would expand the scope of corporate directors’ duty of loyalty from the company alone to include shareholders.
As stock market volatility has increased recently, the forceful calls to hold the government responsible and arguments for institutional reform that he made when his party was in opposition are once again being recalled with considerable weight amid the current downturn in the market.
[email protected] Seong Min-seo Reporter