President Lee: “It’s the Government’s Job to Get the Stock Market Back to Where It Belongs”

[Financial News] President Lee Jae Myung, referring to the recent increase in stock market volatility, said on the 13th, “The decline is getting too deep right now, but I think the market may find its way back to where it belongs,” adding, “It’s the job of our government authorities to help it get back to where it belongs.”
In his closing remarks at a capital market policy meeting held at the Korea Exchange that day, President Lee said, “Our government will make a greater effort than before to normalize the stock market and capital market, and ensure that they return to normal.” He also stressed that he would personally oversee institutional improvements and follow-up measures to normalize the capital market, and ordered the formation of a task force (TF), with senior officials from relevant ministries participating and taking the lead, to advance the normalization and development of capital markets.
“Today, I will bring all these issues into the open, develop and present reasonable solutions to address them, and put those solutions into action. I will personally oversee the process to ensure everything is completed as quickly as possible,” he said.
President Lee cited four reasons for the undervaluation of the domestic stock market: uncertainty over industrial and economic policy, problems with corporate governance and management transparency, distrust in the market stemming from unfair trading, and geopolitical risks. Of these, President Lee said, “I don’t think geopolitical risks on the Korean Peninsula are likely to be a major constraint, as long as we don’t exploit them politically.” He assessed that geopolitical risks and policy uncertainty had eased, while market transparency and corporate management remained challenges.
“Everyone can see which direction the Republic of Korea government’s current industrial and economic policies are heading,” President Lee said. “But the two remaining issues still don’t seem to be getting resolved properly.”
He identified corporate governance and management practices as the most difficult challenge. President Lee said, “There are still considerable doubts about whether shareholders are being adequately respected,” and noted, “Our financial authorities did manage to prevent recent attempts at duplicate listings, but the very fact that such attempts are still being made is cause for concern.”
He added, “Dividends to shareholders and shareholder returns also don’t seem to be very satisfactory. Improving corporate governance and management structures and ensuring managerial transparency and rationality will probably be among the most important legislative tasks for the National Assembly. There is strong resistance and a lot of conflict among interests. In any case, we will work to carry out these four tasks well.”
He also called for restoring market confidence through crackdowns on and punishment of unfair trading. President Lee said, “We are recovering some trust through strong enforcement and penalties on the market transparency front, but it is still hard to say the situation is perfect,” adding, “We may need to expand our authority and staffing somewhat further. In any case, ensuring market transparency remains an ongoing task.”
President Lee stressed, “The Republic of Korea’s standing in the world is changing every day. Expectations are high, and our own standing is also very high, but unfortunately, a few areas remain stalled, not yet where they should be and falling short of international standards and benchmarks. Overcoming this abnormality is this government’s top priority.”

[email protected] Choi Jong-geun Reporter