The Financial Services Commission (FSC) has issued an official statement refuting a Bloomberg column that claimed South Korea is unfit for investment.

According to financial authorities today (August 5), the FSC stated through an official position on the domestic stock market released late the previous night that "given how South Korea is emerging as an irreplaceable supply chain and investment destination in the global artificial intelligence (AI) market, there is zero concern that it will be evaluated as an uninvestable country based on groundless figures."

This marks an official rebuttal to a recent column by Bloomberg columnist Shuli Ren regarding the volatility of the South Korean stock market, titled "South Korea is Becoming Uninvestable, Too."

The FSC pointed out the lack of reliability in the column, stating, "There are parts of the statistics cited in the column that do not match the facts, such as citing 360,000 accounts when forced liquidations averaged around 3,000 accounts per day in June," adding, "The exact source cannot be verified."

It further explained, "The South Korean economy is showing more robust fundamentals than ever before in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate and current account balance," and added, "Expected earnings for domestic companies have risen even higher than when stock prices were at their peak, driven by expectations for the AI and semiconductor industries."

The FSC also added, "Many domestic and foreign investment banks (IBs) are also placing weight on South Korea's solid growth potential."

According to FnGuide, a financial information provider cited by the FSC, the profit forecast for Kospi-listed companies this year increased from 930 trillion won as of June 22, when the Kospi was at its peak, to 978 trillion won as of the previous day.

Regarding the volatility that expanded since June, the FSC explained, "It is attributable to complex factors, and the market assesses that recent signs of recovering investment sentiment are appearing."

The FSC emphasized, "We are doing our utmost to manage volatility, including stabilizing concerns related to single-stock leverage products that recently surfaced through supplementary measures."

It added, "We plan to consistently pursue improvements to the capital market's structure to enhance the stock market's resilience and growth potential while managing short-term volatility."

According to the FSC, trading value related to single-stock leverage stood at 1.3 trillion won the previous day, marking a sharp decline compared to June 30 (12.4 trillion won), before the minimum deposit requirement was raised, and June 25 (19.4 trillion won), which recorded the peak.

(Photo: Provided by the Financial Services Commission, Yonhap News)