President Lee: “I Hear Some Rode Leveraged Inverse or Inverse Funds and Hit Rock Bottom” (2026.01.23.)

(The Pension Future Forum,

which has consistently emphasized

structural reform of all of Korea’s public pensions,

is gravely concerned by the view

that higher fund returns

make structural reform

unnecessary!)

President Lee Jae-myung, referring on the 23rd to news that the KOSPI had broken through the 5,000 mark, said, “When Korean companies are properly valued, the wealth of all our citizens grows.”

Speaking at a town hall meeting held in Ulsan that day, President Lee said, “Everyone is delighted that the stock index broke through 5,000 points yesterday, and people have been offering their praise,” adding, “Then again, some ask what rising stock prices have to do with them. Some even say, ‘Why does mine do nothing but fall? I rode one of those leveraged inverse or inverse funds and I am plunging straight to rock bottom.’ That is the way of the world.”

President Lee went on to add, “The National Pension holds shares in Korean companies, and those holdings have grown by roughly 250 trillion won, so talk of the National Pension being depleted by such-and-such a year—or ‘I paid my contributions, but I will probably die before I ever collect’—has all but disappeared. At the very least, most of the people here probably no longer need to worry about the pension running dry. That is where things now stand.”

The remarks came against the backdrop of the recent sharp rise in the stock market, which has also swelled the holdings of the National Pension, an investor in domestic equities.

https://n.news.naver.com/mnews/article/016/0002590204?sid=100