1
00:00:03,080 --> 00:00:08,360
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

2
00:00:08,400 --> 00:00:12,840
Speaker 2: For decades, South Korea's economy has been dominated by conglomerates

3
00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:18,840
Speaker 2: like Samsung, sk and Hyundai Motor. These business groups are

4
00:00:19,079 --> 00:00:22,439
Speaker 2: run and controlled by some of the wealthiest families in

5
00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:26,920
Speaker 2: the country. They have a specific name in Korean chebo.

6
00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:30,280
Speaker 1: We call them tebar or Tebell family, so it can

7
00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:34,279
Speaker 1: be referring to the business group or the family behind

8
00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:35,600
Speaker 1: this business group.

9
00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:40,680
Speaker 2: Bloomberg reporter Yuk Youang Lee covers South Korea's stock market in.

10
00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:44,160
Speaker 1: Seoul, tebol are really really big part of the South

11
00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:48,440
Speaker 1: Krona economy. According to one estimate, if you combine all

12
00:00:48,479 --> 00:00:52,120
Speaker 1: the turnover of the five biggest chebar that's equal to

13
00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:55,880
Speaker 1: about almost half of South Korea's growth domestic product as

14
00:00:55,960 --> 00:00:57,000
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty two.

15
00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:02,880
Speaker 2: Yuk Young says Chebol's huge contribution to South Korea's GDP

16
00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:09,000
Speaker 2: has in return given them unchallenged power. That's despite the

17
00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:13,280
Speaker 2: long standing criticism that chebols make deals that unfairly benefit

18
00:01:13,360 --> 00:01:18,320
Speaker 2: the founding families at the expense of other shareholders, But

19
00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:24,199
Speaker 2: recently that power is being rattled. In September, a bitter

20
00:01:24,319 --> 00:01:28,399
Speaker 2: takeover battle was launched for control over Korea Zinc, one

21
00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:30,960
Speaker 2: of the biggest chebols in the mining industry.

22
00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:34,720
Speaker 3: Stocks. We're watching a Career Zinc jumping by a record.

23
00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:38,760
Speaker 3: This is after MVK launches a tender offer to buy

24
00:01:38,760 --> 00:01:39,479
Speaker 3: a Career Zinc.

25
00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:43,800
Speaker 2: That follows, the private equity firm MBK Partners, backed by

26
00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:47,960
Speaker 2: Korea Zinc's largest investor, tried to wrestle control of the

27
00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:52,320
Speaker 2: chebol from one of its founding families. The Chebell family

28
00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:55,600
Speaker 2: that runs Korea Zinc responded with a share buy back,

29
00:01:55,640 --> 00:02:00,200
Speaker 2: and eventually regulators got involved. Yukjung says the case is

30
00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:02,680
Speaker 2: sending shock waves across the country.

31
00:02:03,240 --> 00:02:06,240
Speaker 1: I've been covering Korean's stock market for more than ten years,

32
00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:09,399
Speaker 1: and this is really the first time we see individual

33
00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:14,240
Speaker 1: retail investors exerting big political power, and we saw in

34
00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:16,880
Speaker 1: this case of the Korea Think how their anger got

35
00:02:16,919 --> 00:02:19,960
Speaker 1: translated to the regulator's intervention.

36
00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:23,600
Speaker 2: And the stakes of this effort to reign in Chebbels

37
00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:27,200
Speaker 2: may now be higher than ever. Following the events in

38
00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:32,720
Speaker 2: South Korea last week on December third, President Yunsongyol suddenly

39
00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:37,320
Speaker 2: imposed martial law and then withdrew it hours later. The

40
00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:42,160
Speaker 2: act has plunged the country into a political crisis and

41
00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:43,640
Speaker 2: spooked investors.

42
00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:49,680
Speaker 1: Since the martial law declarations, the policymakers are under greater

43
00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:53,600
Speaker 1: pressure to make sure that global money managers and investors

44
00:02:53,760 --> 00:02:57,000
Speaker 1: want to put their money in the South Korean stock market,

45
00:02:57,280 --> 00:03:00,840
Speaker 1: and they have to demonstrate that to one of usters.

46
00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:07,560
Speaker 2: Welcome to The Big Take Asia from Bloomberg News. I'm

47
00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:12,040
Speaker 2: Rebecca Chung Wilkins. Every week we take you inside some

48
00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:16,240
Speaker 2: of the world's biggest and most powerful economies and the markets,

49
00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:21,760
Speaker 2: tycoons and businesses that drive this ever shifting region. Today

50
00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:26,000
Speaker 2: on the show, the Fight against the Powerful Chebbels, How

51
00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:30,000
Speaker 2: a cutthroat power struggle over Korea Zinc is rallying retail

52
00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:35,000
Speaker 2: investors and rattling South Korea's richest families, And what does

53
00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:41,960
Speaker 2: it mean for Korea's one point six trillion dollars stock market.

54
00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:50,119
Speaker 2: The takeover bid for Career Zinc was announced on a Friday,

55
00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:54,960
Speaker 2: right before a big holiday called Chusock, south Korea's Thanksgiving.

56
00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:58,720
Speaker 2: Yu Kong says that day, people were already in a

57
00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:02,600
Speaker 2: holiday mood, ready to travel and gather with families after work,

58
00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:06,920
Speaker 2: but just twenty minutes before the South Korean stock market

59
00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:09,440
Speaker 2: open for trading, there.

60
00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:15,200
Speaker 1: Was this sudden takeover offer by private equity firm called

61
00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:20,080
Speaker 1: MBK Partners. What NBK Partner did is that it teamed

62
00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:23,440
Speaker 1: up with the largest investor in Korea Zinc and they

63
00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:27,200
Speaker 1: launched a tender offer to buy a controlling stake in

64
00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:28,200
Speaker 1: Korea Zinc.

65
00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:32,000
Speaker 2: You can tell us a bit more about Korea Zinc.

66
00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:33,039
Speaker 3: Sure so.

67
00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:36,400
Speaker 1: Korea Zinc, first of all is not really a well

68
00:04:36,440 --> 00:04:39,160
Speaker 1: known outside South Korea, but it's one of the biggest

69
00:04:39,279 --> 00:04:42,080
Speaker 1: producer of refined metals in the world.

70
00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:46,320
Speaker 4: It produces zinc, which is very crucial for the energy

71
00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:50,400
Speaker 4: transition in the world. It was founded by two families

72
00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:54,520
Speaker 4: who fled North Korea, and the current generation of this

73
00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:58,800
Speaker 4: two founder's family have been drifting apart, and now this

74
00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:01,800
Speaker 4: company is run by one of the grandson of the

75
00:05:01,839 --> 00:05:04,520
Speaker 4: two founders, mister chair Yunbaum.

76
00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:08,799
Speaker 2: MBK Partners, which launched the takeover attempt, is a private

77
00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:12,800
Speaker 2: equity firm run by billionaire deal maker Michael Bungju Kim,

78
00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:16,800
Speaker 2: who's known as the godfather of private equity in Asia.

79
00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:21,040
Speaker 1: MBK was founded by this ex Gortman banker who was

80
00:05:21,080 --> 00:05:24,600
Speaker 1: born in Korea and educated in the US, and he

81
00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:28,679
Speaker 1: once wrote this interesting novel about this young banker who

82
00:05:28,920 --> 00:05:33,080
Speaker 1: finds himself tangled in the dailings of South Korea's wealthiest families.

83
00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:37,479
Speaker 1: Now MBK has launched a takeover battle, saying that it

84
00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:41,200
Speaker 1: wants to improve the corporate governance of Korea Zinc.

85
00:05:41,920 --> 00:05:45,800
Speaker 2: So it seems like he's living out his own fictions.

86
00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:48,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you can say that.

87
00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:53,359
Speaker 2: MBK partners teamed up with Young Pung in launching the

88
00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:57,479
Speaker 2: tender offer. Young Pung is controlled by the Chang family,

89
00:05:57,839 --> 00:06:02,400
Speaker 2: the other founding family of Korea Zinc. Before the takeover bid,

90
00:06:02,680 --> 00:06:07,240
Speaker 2: Young Pung was already Korea Zinc's largest shareholder with a

91
00:06:07,279 --> 00:06:10,760
Speaker 2: twenty five point four percent steak in the firm. But

92
00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:14,720
Speaker 2: even so, Young Pung says it has little say in

93
00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:19,640
Speaker 2: how the firm is run. Instead, Career Zinc is controlled

94
00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:23,080
Speaker 2: and run by the che family, even though the CEO

95
00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:27,560
Speaker 2: Che Yumbum owns less than a two percent steak. But

96
00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:31,120
Speaker 2: Yukyung says this kind of management is typical in a

97
00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:33,960
Speaker 2: lot of Chebol companies in South Korea.

98
00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:38,640
Speaker 1: A lot of this Chebel company are publicly traded, so

99
00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:42,200
Speaker 1: the owners of the public companies are actually the shareholders.

100
00:06:42,240 --> 00:06:45,719
Speaker 1: But in South Korea we often call the Chebot family

101
00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:50,839
Speaker 1: as the owners of these publicly traded companies, even though

102
00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:54,880
Speaker 1: Tebo family do not have more than ten percent or

103
00:06:54,960 --> 00:06:56,560
Speaker 1: twenty percent steak.

104
00:06:56,320 --> 00:07:00,000
Speaker 2: In this company, and MBK Partner says this kind of

105
00:07:00,279 --> 00:07:04,480
Speaker 2: management structure of letting Chebbels have the final say even

106
00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:07,440
Speaker 2: though they don't own much of the company was one

107
00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:11,240
Speaker 2: of the main reasons it launched the tender offer alongside

108
00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:11,880
Speaker 2: Young Pun.

109
00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:16,920
Speaker 1: Mbk's argument is that there isn't much independence in the

110
00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:20,960
Speaker 1: board members or the management because mister Chey, even though

111
00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:24,600
Speaker 1: he houlds a minority stake in Korea Zinc, basically the

112
00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:29,200
Speaker 1: side who gets appointed on the Career Zinc's board member seats.

113
00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:32,120
Speaker 1: So that was the one thing that MBKA said they

114
00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:36,280
Speaker 1: wanted to fix. Now all these arguments from MBK has

115
00:07:36,320 --> 00:07:38,280
Speaker 1: been denied by Career Zinc.

116
00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:42,320
Speaker 2: When the bid was launched, shares of Career Zinc surged

117
00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:46,480
Speaker 2: as much as twenty four percent, the most on record. Chay,

118
00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:51,200
Speaker 2: the CEO, responded in a statement calling MBK Partners a

119
00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:56,160
Speaker 2: predatory corporate radar, and he soon counted with a share

120
00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:59,800
Speaker 2: buyback aimed at defending his control of the company.

121
00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:03,119
Speaker 1: What happened in the following month is that we saw

122
00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:07,040
Speaker 1: the series of counter offer to this tender offer and

123
00:08:07,160 --> 00:08:11,000
Speaker 1: another counter offer to tender offer, and no size trying

124
00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:12,840
Speaker 1: to yield their position at all.

125
00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:16,960
Speaker 2: So how did investors react to all of this?

126
00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:20,160
Speaker 1: This was the tipping point when I felt like the

127
00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:24,640
Speaker 1: public sentimus was turning a little sour against mister chair

128
00:08:25,080 --> 00:08:30,120
Speaker 1: when mister Chesside decided to sell new shares in the

129
00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:34,480
Speaker 1: company to raise money for the company. And on that

130
00:08:34,679 --> 00:08:37,600
Speaker 1: day when the shares sale was announced, the Career Zinc

131
00:08:37,679 --> 00:08:41,360
Speaker 1: shares just tanked and it probably took a toll on

132
00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:42,599
Speaker 1: other shareholders.

133
00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:46,600
Speaker 2: On that day, Cree Zinc shares tumbled as much as

134
00:08:46,760 --> 00:08:51,160
Speaker 2: thirty percent that day, wiping some seven billion dollars off

135
00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:55,480
Speaker 2: its value. Investors were upset with the share sale proposal

136
00:08:55,600 --> 00:08:59,080
Speaker 2: because the price offered was at a sharp discount to

137
00:08:59,160 --> 00:09:02,040
Speaker 2: the market price, and they saw it as a move

138
00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:06,760
Speaker 2: that was all about defending Chase control, and Yukyung says

139
00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:11,800
Speaker 2: Chase decision didn't just er Career zincs investors, it also

140
00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:15,000
Speaker 2: hit a nerve with other South Korean investors.

141
00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:18,760
Speaker 1: I remember on the day when that decision was announced,

142
00:09:19,160 --> 00:09:23,520
Speaker 1: a lot of the individual retail investors watching this takeover

143
00:09:23,640 --> 00:09:26,800
Speaker 1: battle on Fowarding were saying, this is why we don't

144
00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:29,680
Speaker 1: invest in the South Korean market. This is why we

145
00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:34,160
Speaker 1: don't invest in tebar because see, the chairman of a

146
00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:38,200
Speaker 1: company is selling new shares to defend his own management

147
00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:42,800
Speaker 1: control at the cost of other shareholders in the Korean zinc.

148
00:09:43,280 --> 00:09:46,960
Speaker 2: The share sale even prompted regulators to step in the

149
00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:50,160
Speaker 2: nation's financial watchdog launch a probe to investigate whether the

150
00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:54,680
Speaker 2: Career Zinc's board intentionally misled investors about the buyback, and

151
00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:59,640
Speaker 2: two weeks later, Career Zinc, facing increasing public scrutiny, pulled

152
00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:03,439
Speaker 2: the share sale and che vowed to step down as

153
00:10:03,559 --> 00:10:07,720
Speaker 2: chairman of the board. He remained CEO as the takeover

154
00:10:07,800 --> 00:10:11,920
Speaker 2: fight continues. In an interview with Bloomberg last month, chair

155
00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:14,280
Speaker 2: admitted that share sale was a mistake.

156
00:10:14,640 --> 00:10:21,920
Speaker 3: We misread the market. It was perhaps a smart move,

157
00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:26,960
Speaker 3: but definitely not the wisest move. It was a tactical

158
00:10:27,080 --> 00:10:30,280
Speaker 3: error on our part. We definitely put the cards before

159
00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:31,480
Speaker 3: the horse, as they say.

160
00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:35,280
Speaker 2: In a statement, Career Zinc says that all measures taken

161
00:10:35,320 --> 00:10:38,679
Speaker 2: were aimed at protecting the nationally important zinc industry and

162
00:10:38,760 --> 00:10:43,160
Speaker 2: improving corporate value for all shareholders. MBK Partners says that

163
00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:47,079
Speaker 2: Chair's unilateral decision making at Career Zinc has hurt its

164
00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:50,880
Speaker 2: corporate value and shareholders significantly. As for who will win

165
00:10:50,960 --> 00:10:54,920
Speaker 2: the battle to control Career Zinc, we're likely to find

166
00:10:54,920 --> 00:10:59,480
Speaker 2: out more about this early next year. As it stands today,

167
00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:03,880
Speaker 2: MBK and Yung Pung hold just under forty percent of

168
00:11:03,920 --> 00:11:07,480
Speaker 2: the stock in Korea Zinc. Chez chares including those of

169
00:11:07,480 --> 00:11:13,240
Speaker 2: his allies, are at roughly thirty five percent after the break.

170
00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:16,960
Speaker 2: What Korea Zinc's bitter fight says about the pressure on

171
00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:20,959
Speaker 2: chebels to change, what it means for the broader economy

172
00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:35,440
Speaker 2: if those efforts succeed, and what if they don't. South

173
00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:39,200
Speaker 2: Korea's chebels, or family run conglomerates, are seen as one

174
00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:43,280
Speaker 2: of the main driving forces behind the country's rapid economic

175
00:11:43,360 --> 00:11:47,360
Speaker 2: growth after the Korean War ended in nineteen fifty three.

176
00:11:47,679 --> 00:11:52,719
Speaker 2: The chebels propelled South Korea to become Asia's fourth largest economy,

177
00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:56,400
Speaker 2: and today Korea's Fair Trade Commission says that there are

178
00:11:56,400 --> 00:12:00,880
Speaker 2: more than eighty chebels in the country more than seventy

179
00:12:00,960 --> 00:12:04,680
Speaker 2: years after the war ended. Some investors field chebels have

180
00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:08,280
Speaker 2: become more of a liability for the Korean stock market

181
00:12:08,720 --> 00:12:13,559
Speaker 2: accountable for something called the Korean discount Turbot family.

182
00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:17,200
Speaker 1: They have gone from being the engine of growth for

183
00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:22,240
Speaker 1: a South Korea's success story to hampering the country's growth.

184
00:12:22,800 --> 00:12:26,200
Speaker 1: When you see South Korean stock markets peers such as

185
00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:30,439
Speaker 1: Taiwan or Japan, they have been enjoying these market rallies,

186
00:12:30,480 --> 00:12:33,560
Speaker 1: but now the Chebot family are holding back South Korea

187
00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:35,280
Speaker 1: from achieving that kind of rally.

188
00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:40,640
Speaker 2: Chebols are criticized for making deals that advance families interests

189
00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:45,760
Speaker 2: rather than prioritizing shareholder value. One of the structures that

190
00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:49,160
Speaker 2: enable them to do this is the complex web of

191
00:12:49,280 --> 00:12:54,680
Speaker 2: crossholding among hundreds of listed and private companies, so it

192
00:12:54,720 --> 00:12:58,360
Speaker 2: can be difficult for everyday investors to figure out who's

193
00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:02,800
Speaker 2: exactly running the company. And on top of all of that,

194
00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:07,679
Speaker 2: the families that control the Chebels don't actually want their

195
00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:08,880
Speaker 2: share prices to go.

196
00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:12,720
Speaker 1: Up because the more expensive to share prices are, the

197
00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:16,040
Speaker 1: more inheritance tax they have to pay, and South Korea

198
00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:19,920
Speaker 1: has one of the highest inheritance tax in the world.

199
00:13:20,520 --> 00:13:24,520
Speaker 2: Criticisms of this Korean discount and the role of Chebels

200
00:13:24,640 --> 00:13:28,200
Speaker 2: isn't new, but Yukjung says one of the reasons the

201
00:13:28,240 --> 00:13:31,319
Speaker 2: tide is turning now is because of the growing clout

202
00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:36,680
Speaker 2: of individual investors. During COVID, the number of retail investors

203
00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:41,119
Speaker 2: in Korea doubled. They now account for about two thirds

204
00:13:41,200 --> 00:13:45,160
Speaker 2: of the market turnover, a powerful force in the market

205
00:13:45,520 --> 00:13:49,840
Speaker 2: and for the first time, an influential voice in elections too,

206
00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:52,800
Speaker 2: And that is part of the reason why the government

207
00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:56,800
Speaker 2: is also joining in on this push to get chebels

208
00:13:56,840 --> 00:13:57,680
Speaker 2: to change.

209
00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:01,040
Speaker 1: Right now, what the financial the leaders are trying to

210
00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:03,360
Speaker 1: do is that they are trying to make those type

211
00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:06,760
Speaker 1: of companies to come up with plans to give more

212
00:14:06,840 --> 00:14:09,560
Speaker 1: money back to shareholders and make sure they do the

213
00:14:09,640 --> 00:14:13,480
Speaker 1: right things for the shareholders, the general shareholders and not

214
00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:17,920
Speaker 1: just the minority few founding families. So their roles what

215
00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:20,320
Speaker 1: they do in the next few years will be really

216
00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:23,440
Speaker 1: crucial to where the South Korest stock market are headed.

217
00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:28,000
Speaker 2: Broader reforms are on the table. The financial regulator is

218
00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:31,880
Speaker 2: reviewing rules to make it easier for shareholders to secure

219
00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:36,200
Speaker 2: fair merger terms, as well as changes to protect shareholders'

220
00:14:36,320 --> 00:14:39,400
Speaker 2: rights when it comes to buying and splitting up companies.

221
00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:44,720
Speaker 2: So these moves made by regulators with what's happened with

222
00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:49,200
Speaker 2: Career Zinc. It's all really a reality check for the Chabels, right.

223
00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:53,360
Speaker 1: That's exactly right. There will be more public resistant and

224
00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:57,920
Speaker 1: there will be more regulatory interventions if they don't play

225
00:14:57,960 --> 00:15:00,680
Speaker 1: with the rules. One of the institutional us and Soul

226
00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:02,840
Speaker 1: he told me that a lot of the teple should

227
00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:05,840
Speaker 1: be getting a message from what's happening in Korea Zinc,

228
00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:09,160
Speaker 1: which is that if you don't really take good care

229
00:15:09,280 --> 00:15:12,600
Speaker 1: of the shareholders, you may be taking this kind of

230
00:15:12,640 --> 00:15:18,200
Speaker 1: an external attack or external takeover attempt from outsiders.

231
00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:21,200
Speaker 4: So the lesson here is that take a good care

232
00:15:21,280 --> 00:15:23,320
Speaker 4: of your shareholders and make them happy.

233
00:15:23,920 --> 00:15:27,920
Speaker 2: These proposed changes come at a crucial time for the

234
00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:32,560
Speaker 2: country's economy. Last week, six hours of martial law and

235
00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:36,920
Speaker 2: a failed impeachment vote against South Korean President Uni sent

236
00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:41,840
Speaker 2: jitters through the market. Korean stocks tumbled and the one

237
00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:44,280
Speaker 2: slumped following the weekends events.

238
00:15:45,960 --> 00:15:50,000
Speaker 1: Ever since we saw President Union declaring and then lifting

239
00:15:50,040 --> 00:15:53,280
Speaker 1: the martial law decree, we're seeing on a daily basis

240
00:15:53,320 --> 00:15:57,160
Speaker 1: of South Krire's top financial and monitor policy makers trying

241
00:15:57,200 --> 00:15:59,880
Speaker 1: to restore confidence in the South Korean economy.

242
00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:00,960
Speaker 4: The Suskrim market.

243
00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:04,600
Speaker 1: So even though we experienced some of the weaknesses in

244
00:16:04,640 --> 00:16:07,920
Speaker 1: the stock market during the first four trading days since

245
00:16:07,960 --> 00:16:10,440
Speaker 1: the martial law, I think the hope is brewing and

246
00:16:10,480 --> 00:16:15,680
Speaker 1: there's even bigger motivations for Suskrim policymakers and lawmakers to

247
00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:19,120
Speaker 1: make sure that the proper reforms go through and the

248
00:16:19,160 --> 00:16:22,360
Speaker 1: stock market find its proper value.

249
00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:29,680
Speaker 2: This is The Big Take Asia from Bloomberg News. I'm

250
00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:34,040
Speaker 2: Rebecca Cheung Wilkins. Listen to our previous episode on South

251
00:16:34,120 --> 00:16:37,880
Speaker 2: Korea's short lived martial law, where we unpack exactly what

252
00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:41,200
Speaker 2: happened on the ground during those six hours and what's

253
00:16:41,240 --> 00:16:45,320
Speaker 2: at stake for the country's future. This episode was produced

254
00:16:45,360 --> 00:16:49,320
Speaker 2: by Naomi Young Young and Jessica bec It was mixed

255
00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:52,480
Speaker 2: by Alex Sigura and fact checked by Young. It was

256
00:16:52,600 --> 00:16:56,360
Speaker 2: edited by Caitlin Kenny and Catherine Knight. Naomi Shavin is

257
00:16:56,400 --> 00:17:00,560
Speaker 2: our senior producer, Elizabeth Ponzo is our senior editor, Nicole

258
00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:03,520
Speaker 2: Beams de Vaux is our executive producer, and Sage Bauman

259
00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:07,320
Speaker 2: is Bloomberg's head of Podcasts. Please follow and review The

260
00:17:07,359 --> 00:17:10,480
Speaker 2: Big Take Asia wherever you listen to podcasts. It really

261
00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:13,800
Speaker 2: helps new listeners find the show, See you next time.