(LEAD) Lee pledges capital market reform to address stock undervaluation

(ATTN: UPDATES with more remarks in last 3 paras)

SEOUL, Nov. 13 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Jae Myung on Friday reiterated his commitment to capital market reform, pledging to address what he has called "undervaluation" of South Korean stocks by boosting market confidence and cracking down on market irregularities.

Lee made the pledge during a policy discussion on the capital market held at the Korea Exchange, which brought together experts, corporate representatives and government officials.

"Normalizing the capital market is our government's unwavering policy direction and commitment," the president said.

The president described the undervaluation of South Korean stocks as an "unreasonable abnormality," reaffirming his administration's commitment to reforming the capital market and the broader financial market to boost investor confidence.

Lee's remarks came amid significant volatility in South Korea's stock market in recent months, with the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) trading in the mid-5,000-point range on Friday, after reaching an all-time closing high of 9,114.55 points in late June.

The president cited investor confidence as the most important value in ensuring a sound capital market, vowing to restore it through institutional reforms and efforts to tackle market irregularities.

"There are concerns such as 'Could another geopolitical crisis erupt, with an exchange of gunfire along the ceasefire line?'" Lee said. "Removing such worries ... and ultimately restoring trust would be most important."

The president noted the government has introduced institutional reforms to address unfair trading practices and abuses by major shareholders, but that the country still has a long way to go.

"The government is sternly responding to unfair practices, such as stock price manipulation, at the pan-government level," he said, adding that he has instructed an investigative body to sternly crack down on such irregularities in the financial and capital markets.

Lee also called for measures to facilitate mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and make them easier, describing them as a viable way to address stock undervaluation.

"The greatest tool for normalizing the market would be hostile M&As," the president said, adding that frequent corporate takeovers could expand "the overall pie" and calling for policy measures to encourage M&As.

He also called for the establishment of a high-level body to oversee capital market reforms, citing "a lot" of work that needs to be done.

pbr@yna.co.kr
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