{"id":2209250,"date":"2025-04-22T08:00:04","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T23:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/?p=2209250"},"modified":"2025-04-21T17:55:29","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T08:55:29","slug":"presidential-frontrunner-vows-to-end-korea-discount-pledges-fairer-market-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2025\/04\/presidential-frontrunner-vows-to-end-korea-discount-pledges-fairer-market-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"Presidential frontrunner vows to end Korea Discount, pledges fairer market rules"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Presidential frontrunner and former Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung on Monday pledged to eliminate the \u201cKorea Discount\u201d and raise South Korea\u2019s benchmark stock index to 5,000, unveiling a set of capital market reforms aimed at boosting investor confidence. In a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jaemyunglee\/posts\/pfbid0fSXXHDmy3Yc4NbfN6ktoJWcpcUdod5Q5LLSdmMBgkbWrswNtRW5Yd3PEJUh3Bonkl\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">social media post<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Lee proposed wide-ranging reforms aimed at boosting investor confidence, including tighter enforcement of fair trading rules, improved corporate governance standards and regulatory support for foreign capital inflows. He also promised to overhaul shareholder voting rules, curb short-term profiteering and introduce a \u201cone-strike-out\u201d system to bar individuals found guilty of stock manipulation from reentering the market.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lee also called for stronger protections for minority shareholders, mandatory cancellation of treasury shares and measures to improve the foreign investment environment to support South Korea\u2019s inclusion in the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2024\/10\/south-korea-to-join-major-bond-index-opening-doors-for-foreign-investment\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">MSCI Developed Markets Index<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. While he did not elaborate how he would uphold his pledge, Lee said his government would present a detailed mid- to long-term industrial growth strategy if he becomes South Korea\u2019s next president.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>WHY IT MATTERS<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lee\u2019s pledge reflects his <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2025\/04\/from-populist-firebrand-to-centrist-lee-jae-myungs-reinvention-for-2025-race\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ongoing effort<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to reposition himself as a \u201ccentrist-conservative\u201d at a time of economic uncertainty. By linking his campaign to the elimination of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2022\/05\/the-korea-discount-why-south-koreas-stock-market-is-so-underpriced\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Korea Discount<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 a persistent valuation gap attributed to poor governance standards, regulatory opacity and geopolitical risk \u2014 Lee is courting institutional and small-scale investors disillusioned with South Korea\u2019s underperforming equities market.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lee would likely face limited legislative resistance in acting on these proposals. The DP\u2019s comfortable majority in the National Assembly would allow for stronger shareholder voting rights and increased board transparency, which Acting President Han Duck-soo <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.opm.go.kr\/opm\/news\/press-release.do?mode=view&amp;articleNo=158720&amp;article.offset=40&amp;articleLimit=10\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">vetoed<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> earlier this month, to pass with relative ease. However, Lee did not elaborate how he would enforce his proposals, raising questions about how these reforms would be implemented and prioritized once in office.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Moreover, Lee will likely face resistance from entrenched corporate interests. South Korea\u2019s conglomerates have persistently diluted or delayed governance reforms through legal maneuvering, such as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2024\/12\/south-koreas-bid-to-overhaul-corporate-governance-faces-key-enforcement-hurdles\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cross-shareholding or dual-class share arrangements<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which has prevented successive governments from reversing the Korea Discount. For investors, it remains unclear whether Lee\u2019s proposals mark the beginning of a credible push toward capital market modernization or yet another election pledge ahead of the snap presidential election.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"content-tags\"><a href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/tag\/business-economy\/\"><span class=\"tag\">Business &amp; Economy<\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/tag\/domestic-politics\/\"><span class=\"tag\">Domestic Politics<\/span><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Presidential frontrunner and former Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung on Monday pledged to eliminate the \u201cKorea Discount\u201d and raise South Korea\u2019s benchmark stock index to 5,000, unveiling a set of capital market reforms aimed at boosting investor confidence. In a social media post, Lee proposed wide-ranging reforms aimed at boosting investor confidence, including tighter [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10407,"featured_media":2209251,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[24,27],"class_list":["post-2209250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-briefings","tag-business-economy","tag-domestic-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Presidential frontrunner vows to end Korea Discount, pledges fairer market rules - Korea Pro<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2025\/04\/presidential-frontrunner-vows-to-end-korea-discount-pledges-fairer-market-rules\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Presidential frontrunner vows to end Korea Discount, pledges fairer market rules - Korea Pro\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Presidential frontrunner and former Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung on Monday pledged to eliminate the \u201cKorea Discount\u201d and raise South Korea\u2019s benchmark stock index to 5,000, unveiling a set of capital market reforms aimed at boosting investor confidence. 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