With the liberal opposition clinching a landslide victory in Wednesday's general election, expectations over President Yoon Suk Yeol’s economic policies that favor stock market investment falter. Yoon’s People Power Party faced a major defeat in the parliamentary elections, as the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea and its satellite party won 175 seats in the 300-member National Assembly. The .
Shareholder activism appears to be losing steam in Korea, as evidenced by the general meeting of shareholders at several companies this year, contrary to expectations of an uptick in the influence of retail investors on corporate governance.
The government’s measures aimed at increasing shareholder returns to boost Korea's undervalued stock market have sparked much debate on their effectiveness due to the lack of motivational drivers for companies to join the program. In the Corporate Value-up Program announced by the Financial Services Commission on Feb. 26, the government directed some 1,600 firms listed on the Kospi and Kosdaq markets to di.