Lee: “Forced sales of overseas stocks? Defending FX with retirement pensions? Fake news”
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Summary
- The president said it is not even possible that the government is considering forced sales of citizens’ overseas stocks.
- He said rumors that the government would convert retirement pensions into a fund and use them at will to defend the foreign exchange market are not only impossible, but also unnecessary, and that it has absolutely no such intention.
- He noted that typical funds generate annual returns of about 7–8%, while retirement pensions earn returns of 1%, and said that if returns are below inflation, people lose money—adding that there should be discussion about whether it is desirable to leave them virtually neglected like this.
President Lee Jae-myung on the 21st stressed that it is “not even possible” that the government is considering forcing Korean citizens to sell their overseas stocks.
Speaking at a New Year’s press conference at Cheong Wa Dae earlier in the day, Lee made the remarks in response to a question about turning retirement pensions into a fund, saying, “Linking the fund-conversion issue to stock prices leads to misunderstandings.”
Lee said, “It’s a global phenomenon, not just in South Korea, but fake news is fueling social confusion and intensifying conflict,” adding, “Claims that the government is considering forcing our citizens to sell their overseas stocks are spreading widely.” He continued, “They treat it as if it were true, but it’s not even possible. Not even a socialist country could do that.”
Lee also pointed to what he called “malicious fake news that causes political misunderstandings” around the retirement pension fund-conversion debate, saying, “Baseless rumors are spreading that the government wants to use retirement pensions at will to defend the foreign exchange market.” He stressed, “Not only is it not possible, there is no need to do it, and we have absolutely no intention of doing so.”
Lee assessed that “typical funds post annual returns of around 7–8%, but retirement pensions return 1%. As far as I know, that’s not even at the level of bank interest.” He added, “It’s an important asset for preparing for old age, but if returns are lower than inflation, people lose money,” and said, “We need to discuss whether it’s desirable to leave it virtually neglected like this—and then what to do about it.”
Lee said, “If the parties concerned don’t want it, you can’t do fund conversion anyway. We need sufficient discussion on how it would be managed after conversion, and whether there is any guarantee that it would be better than leaving it idle as it is now.” He added, “Fund conversion is one alternative we can consider, but please don’t misunderstand. If people don’t want it, we won’t do it; we won’t make it worse; and we will never do something unreasonable that would invite criticism.”
Kang Hyun-woo/Choi Hae-ryeon, reporters hkang@hankyung.com
