[The Editors' Verdict] Cowboys and Samurai Who Revived National Economies

NVIDIA, Apple Driving US Stock Market
'Samurai 7' Nicknamed 'Magnificent'
Reflecting on Korea's Stagnant Corporate Value Growth

'The Magnificent Seven' (2016) teaser video capture

The film The Magnificent Seven (1962), starring some of the greatest actors of the time such as Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, and Charles Bronson, tells the story of seven gunmen who unite to save a small Mexican village from bandits. The original English title is The Magnificent Seven. For the younger generation, the 2016 remake featuring Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, and South Korean actor Lee Byung-hun is likely more familiar.

In fact, The Magnificent Seven is based on the Japanese master director Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (1954). This film, famous enough to be remade in Hollywood, is known in English as Seven Samurai.

If you are interested in stocks, you might know that nostalgic old movie titles like these are currently trending worldwide. The “Magnificent 7 (M7)” refers to seven leading U.S. stocks driving the American stock market: Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft (MS), Meta Platforms, Amazon.com, Alphabet, and Tesla. In fact, amid a rally in artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductor sectors, the S&P 500 index in New York has set new all-time highs 15 times this year based on closing prices, continuing a four-month consecutive upward trend. The Nasdaq index also recently hit a record high for the first time in over two years. Notably, Nvidia, which led the rally, surpassed a market capitalization of $2 trillion, becoming the third-largest company globally by market cap after MS and Apple. It took Nvidia only 180 trading days, or eight months, to grow its market cap from $1 trillion to $2 trillion.

The Japanese stock market has seen a similar trend, with the Nikkei index surpassing the 40,000 mark for the first time ever. On the 22nd of last month, it reached its highest level in 34 years and 2 months since December 1989, during the bubble economy era, and has continued its upward momentum. The seven major companies leading this Japanese stock market surge are known as the “Samurai 7 (S7).” Global investment bank Goldman Sachs coined this term, referring to seven companies: automotive giants Toyota and Subaru, trading company Mitsubishi, semiconductor equipment manufacturers Advantest, Tokyo Electron, Disco, and Screen Holdings. Foreign investors have maintained a buying streak for seven consecutive weeks through February 16 this year. The market attributes this influx of foreign investment to the Japanese government’s stock market stimulus policies introduced last year.

Recently, our government announced corporate value-up support measures, but the market’s response has been lukewarm. In fact, the high expectations before the announcement have faded, leading to criticism that it was a much-anticipated event that ended up being a disappointment.

One Japanese media outlet commented, “This plan is nothing more than a ‘plagiarism’ modeled after Japan’s plan,” and criticized, “The Korean government forgets that Japanese companies’ stock prices did not rise simply because of a value-up plan.” This media outlet is known for producing anti-Korean articles regularly. However, its claim that “because Korea bans short selling entirely, acting like the Chinese Communist Party, it fails to gain the trust of global investors” is a painful critique, as it reflects domestic criticisms about ignoring global standards.

The article’s pointed remark that “we must start by abandoning the delusion that if Japan can do it, Korea can too” calls for a sober self-reflection that we must prepare and begin with genuine rigor rather than copycat policies. Whether it is called “Korea 7” or “Taekwondo 7,” the name is not important. What matters is that the government and companies join forces to firmly establish representative stocks that can resolve the chronic Korea discount (the undervaluation of the Korean stock market). When that happens, we will be able to laugh heartily at those Japanese media outlets that publish such anti-Korean articles.