▲President Lee Jae-myung wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on the 1st: "Semiconductors are one of the core pillars of our industry, so I don't really understand why we should calculate the composite stock index excluding semiconductors." He added, "Nobody says, 'If you take away soccer skills, isn't Son Heung-min just an ordinary person?'" Sharing a brokerage analysis report stating that "if the semiconductor sector is excluded from the KOSPI, the effective index would be in the 4,100-4,200 range," he countered, "Shouldn't we instead say, 'Even without semiconductors, Korea's stock market is at a whopping 4,100'?" While it is positive that the semiconductor sector — home to the top two stocks by market capitalization — is driving the market, vigilance is needed against excessive concentration in chips and the resulting optical illusion.
▲Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back stated at the Asia Security Conference (Shangri-La Dialogue) held in Singapore on the 31st of last month, "Both Korea and the United States already agreed back in 2020 that 94 percent of the conditions for the transfer of wartime operational control had been met," adding, "Even if OPCON were transferred tomorrow, there would be no difficulty whatsoever." This may have been intended to emphasize the readiness of our military, but at a time when U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has stressed that the OPCON transfer "must be balanced with U.S. operational plans," is it really necessary to highlight the gap in positions between Seoul and Washington?
