South Korea’s presidential frontrunner, Lee Jae-myung, vowed Monday to revise the commercial act to help eliminate the “Korea Discount”.
South Korea’s parliament, controlled by the liberal Democratic Party formerly led by Lee, passed legislation in March that expanded the fiduciary duty of board members to include protecting the interests of minority shareholders.
But the revision was discarded after South Korea’s acting President Han Duck-soo vetoed the legislation, which he said could impede management’s decision-making and create unnecessary confusion.
The Korea discount refers to the lower valuations that South Korean companies typically trade on relative to their global peers due to factors such as the dominance of family-owned conglomerates, criticised for putting their interests ahead of other shareholders.
Lee is one of the DP’s primary candidates for the upcoming presidential snap election in June and has been leading opinion polls.
Lee’s Top Priority
Lee has pledged to fix South Korea’s economic polarisation that he said was a key source of social conflict, highlighting how he felt this had exacerbated the recent political turmoil in the wake of former President Yoon’s martial law order.
Lee vowed to drive large-scale investments at the government level in technology and talent development to resuscitate economic growth.
Conservative critics have warned that a return to power by the opposition could undermine the alliance with the United States and threaten improved ties with Japan, but Lee proposed a pragmatic approach to diplomacy.
“Realistically speaking, the South Korea-U.S. alliance is important, and South Korea, the U.S., and Japan’s cooperation is important. Within that, the consistent principle is that the national interest of the Republic of Korea is the top priority,” Lee said.
South Korea and the United States will hold trade consultations this week in Washington at the suggestion of the United States, Seoul’s trade ministry said on Sunday.
U.S.-South Korea Trade Meeting
A new South Korean leader will likely face the daunting task of negotiating with the U.S., the country’s leading security ally, over tariffs that have cast a cloud over the export-reliant economy.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok and Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun will meet with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on the sidelines of the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, the ministry said in a statement.
South Korea hopes to lower the 25% “reciprocal” tariff that President Donald Trump has announced for the country, which he has since paused along with high tariffs slapped on a string of countries.
Ahn will leave on Wednesday, the statement said. It did not specify the agenda or give other details.
(With inputs from Reuters)
