As the KOSPI index plunged from the 9,000 level to the 5,000 level, retail investors moved to launch a political party tentatively named "People and Shareholders." They concluded a party is needed to credit entry shareholder rights.
On the 30th, the Korea Shareholder Movement Headquarters (the headquarters) said it would begin recruiting founding members to launch People and Shareholders. Recruitment will take place through the Naver cafe Korea Shareholder Movement Headquarters. Not only investors who hold at least one share but also the public who indirectly qualify as shareholders, such as National Pension Service subscribers, can participate.
Alongside recruiting founding members, the headquarters is drafting a statement of purpose for the launch, bylaws, and a platform. It plans to make all procedures required by the Political Parties Act transparent.
The purpose is to protect shareholder rights and interests. The headquarters has continued various activities, including rallies, policy proposals, and complaints, but concluded that civic group activities alone have limits in driving policy change. It said, "We set out to launch a party because a political representative is needed to credit entry shareholder rights."
Earlier, the headquarters continued activities such as filing complaints against three CEOs of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix and the Minister of the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL), saying that management had entered into an agreement to distribute company profits even though performance bonuses at the two companies could not be the subject of a labor dispute.
The headquarters said, "What we witnessed after waiting was the government and the ruling party's anti-market thesis that the state and society would reclaim corporations' profits, and the spectacle of proclaiming at home and abroad—through a mode of bureaucratic control—the management roadmap of more than 15 years, even stripping decision-making authority from shareholders, the owners of the company," adding, "We now initiate a party to be represented."