'Share prices fell after president's Honam investment announcement'
'Market sees it as risk to corporate value'
'Continued government overreach will hurt South Korea'
People Power Party lawmaker Lee In-sun on Wednesday criticized the government's intervention in semiconductor investment decisions, calling the recent share price declines at Samsung Electronics and SK hynix "a clear warning from the market."
In a Facebook post that day, Lee said Samsung Electronics fell 4.86 percent and SK hynix dropped 1.68 percent on June 29 — the same day the government announced an investment plan worth hundreds of trillions of won for Gwangju and South Jeolla Province. "Prices briefly rebounded on June 30, but on Tuesday Samsung Electronics plunged another 5.84 percent and SK hynix fell 3.40 percent," she said. "The weakness has continued today as well."
Lee said the pattern — a sharp drop immediately after the announcement, a brief rebound, another plunge, and sustained weakness — showed that market anxiety had not been resolved. "The wave of foreign selling in particular should not be seen as a simple supply-and-demand issue," she said. "It must be read as a warning against the government excessively intervening in corporate investment decisions and management autonomy in the Korean market."
She acknowledged that share price movements cannot be attributed to a single factor, but added: "If the government in effect pressures world-class companies to direct their investment based on political objectives, the market has no choice but to treat that as a risk to corporate value."
"Companies belong to their shareholders, not the government," Lee said. "Investment on the scale of hundreds of trillions of won is a critical management decision that determines a company's survival and future competitiveness. If the government steers that toward a specific region, further declines in corporate value and share prices can recur at any time."
She went on to say that the semiconductor industry must not become a tool of politics. "If the government's excessive intervention continues, foreign investors will leave the Korean market, and the damage will spread beyond companies and shareholders to the entire South Korean economy," she said.
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