Determination Toward the "KOSPI 5000" Era
Emphasizing the Restoration of Fairness in the Capital Market
On June 11, President Lee Jaemyung visited the Market Surveillance Committee of the Korea Exchange for the first time since taking office, expressing his commitment to ushering in the "KOSPI 5000" era. On the same day as President Lee's visit to the Korea Exchange, the KOSPI surpassed the 2,900 mark for the first time in three years and five months.
This visit by President Lee took place at the Market Surveillance Committee of the Korea Exchange and is interpreted as a move to demonstrate a firm stance against recent disruptive activities in the financial markets and a determination to restore fairness in the capital market. In particular, the occasion was used to review three key principles: eradicating unfair trading, restoring market order, and protecting financial investors. President Lee also inspected the market surveillance system, which monitors and detects distortions in the capital market.
Since his presidential candidacy, President Lee has consistently expressed a strong commitment to creating a fair market. In April, through his social networking service (SNS), President Lee pledged to introduce a "one-strike-out" policy, stating that anyone involved in stock price manipulation, even once, would be permanently barred from the stock market. To achieve this, he promised to strengthen the recovery of short-term profits, enhance preemptive monitoring of unfair trading, and establish a strict system for dealing with financial crimes, including unfair practices using undisclosed information by executives and major shareholders. He has also repeatedly declared his intention to usher in the "KOSPI 5000" era, stating, "Our citizens need a modernized stock market where they can truly grow their assets." This reflects his determination to resolve the Korea Discount, the undervaluation of the Korean stock market.
Furthermore, President Lee has emphasized that he is not only making statements and pledges but is also an investor in the capital market himself. He has shared that his first stock purchase, made on the recommendation of a friend at a securities firm, was a speculative stock, and that he once concentrated his investments in small-cap stocks. At the end of May, he publicly disclosed through YouTube that he personally purchased KOSPI200 and KOSDAQ150 exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
In November last year, when he was the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, President Lee also visited the Korea Exchange to explain the necessity of amending the Commercial Act to expand the fiduciary duties of corporate directors. This latest visit is seen as more than just an act of encouragement; it is also interpreted as a signal for reforming the financial supervisory system, prompt legislative action, and institutional improvements to restore investor confidence.
The fact that the president specifically visited the Market Surveillance Committee of the Korea Exchange may also influence future discussions on enhancing the independence and transparency of capital market supervision. The Market Surveillance Committee of the Korea Exchange is an independent body dedicated to reducing information asymmetry between listed companies and investors, and to monitoring and detecting unfair trading. As a quasi-judicial surveillance organization within the exchange, it notifies financial authorities upon detecting violations of the Capital Markets Act, and can also request a prosecutorial investigation when necessary.
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