President's Stern Warning: Lee Says "I Will Show That Stock Manipulation Ruins Families"

President Lee Jaemyung's New Year's Press Conference on January 21
On KOSPI Surpassing 4,900: "Returning to Normal"

Yonhap News Agency

On January 21, President Lee Jaemyung commented on the KOSPI index approaching 5,000, stating, "What was previously distorted is now returning to normal."

During a New Year's press conference held at the Blue House State Guest House that day, President Lee prefaced his remarks by saying, "It is impossible to predict what will happen in the future," before making this assessment.

President Lee reiterated his view on the current Korean stock market, saying, "It is undervalued. The price-to-earnings ratio (PER) is extremely low, even lower than Taiwan's. It is lower than that of developing countries."

Identifying peace, management, governance, and market risks as reasons for the sluggish stock prices, President Lee questioned, "The market is undervalued because of these four factors. Wouldn't things improve if we address them?"

He continued, "It is not about artificially boosting stock prices; normalization is what matters. I will make it clear that manipulating stock prices will ruin families. Those who manipulate stock prices need to come to their senses," he warned.

Meanwhile, President Lee also said, "Investments should be made carefully and based on one's own judgment. As I have said before, I once bought small-cap speculative stocks for my first stock investment and had great success, which made me overconfident and led me to buy more small-cap stocks, only to face the IMF crisis."

He cautioned, "Stock investments must be handled individually and responsibly. No one else will take responsibility for your decisions."