President Lee Jae-myung said Wednesday that South Korean stocks have "risen faster than expected" amid an unprecedented new situation for the country, while adding that he still considers them "undervalued."
"As I came in, I saw the 8,000 line was breached. Since it was breached, one could say a major crash has come, but compared with 2,700, it has risen enormously," Lee said at a news conference marking the first anniversary of his inauguration, held at the presidential office. He added that "the stock market has large swings, but fluctuations are bound to occur."
On the KOSPI index target of 5,000, which was one of his presidential campaign pledges, Lee said, "When I talked about a stock index of 5,000, I thought it would take about two to three years, but in the process of restoring trust through the 'normalization of the abnormal,' (investors) do not need to wait two to three years." Citing in turn measures including "easing geopolitical instability on the Korean Peninsula, predictability through the state clearly presenting industrial and economic policies, and preventing stock manipulation," Lee again said, "I expected it to reach 5,000 by cleaning up only the abnormalities, such as carving out through physical spin-offs and taking someone else's cow and calf as one's own."
He continued, "Balance adjustments also need to be made, and anxious people need to take a brief rest, but I still think it is undervalued," adding, "There is also a saying that stocks climb a wall of worry and collapse on conviction." Lee, however, also said, "Do not use what I say today as reference material for deciding trades."
Finally, he added, "It is fortunate that the appraised value of the National Pension Service is rising," calling it "one part of the normalization of the abnormal."
