People Power Party lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo [Yonhap]
People Power Party lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo [Yonhap]

People Power Party lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo on Thursday said President Lee Jae Myung must immediately dismiss three top financial officials, declaring that "South Korean stocks can no longer be entrusted to the 'hopeless leverage trio.' President Lee must fire Kim Yong-beom, FSC Chairman Lee Eok-won and FSS chief Lee Chan-jin immediately."

Ahn made the remarks on his Facebook page, writing that "the Kospi has collapsed sharply for two straight days, nearly breaking below the 5,000 level, and circuit breakers — the kind you would expect only in a national emergency — have become routine."

He said "even as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix posted record earnings, their share prices have plunged nearly 40 percent from their peaks and retail investors' accounts are awash in red," adding that "despite all this, the leveraged ETFs tied to Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix — the spark and amplifier of this chaos — are still operating."

Ahn said delisting or trading halts would not even be sufficient at this point, yet authorities had spent more than a month doing nothing, hiding behind talk of "reviewing supplementary measures." "Policy, oversight and response have all failed," he added.

He went on to say that "above all, nothing in the way of alternatives or administrative guidance was visible before this crisis arrived," and asked who approved these speculative products in the first place, and why warning signs had been left unaddressed.

"The Kospi and Kosdaq are turning to rubble — why has not a single measure been put forward?" Ahn said, calling Kim, Lee Eok-won and Lee Chan-jin "the human errors driving the Korea discount."


mp1256@heraldcorp.com