'Kospi 5,000 was this government's policy goal'
'The price of gambling with people's retirement'
Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon on Friday called on President Lee Jae Myung to personally disclose the state of the national pension fund after the Kospi fell below the 5,000 mark, demanding answers about a fund he said had been heavily concentrated in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix shares.
"Kospi 5,000 was a number the Lee Jae Myung government set as a policy goal," Han wrote on Facebook that day. "A number you announced and then failed to hold is worse than one you never reached."
Han said he had warned in March that the market's rise was driven by the semiconductor cycle and urged the government to prepare for a downturn rather than take credit. "The government did not prepare," he added.
He said that instead of trimming the national pension fund's domestic equity holdings while share prices were rising, the government kept them intact and increased the domestic stock weighting, concentrating the fund in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. "As a result, 182 trillion won evaporated in three and a half months — and that is before this week's crash," he added.
"We are now seeing the price of running a speculative game with the people's retirement as collateral," Han said.
mp1256@heraldcorp.com
