On the 26th, Lee Jae-myung, speaking about the "public participation-type Public Growth Fund," said, "In the end, what matters is how to ease the gap in the asset field for the public," adding, "We need to clearly spur competition, whether by disclosing (the fund managers' management status) from time to time or by pressing them." He said management should focus on preventing the sense of deprivation among groups without investment assets and a widening asset gap amid a buoyant financial market marked by phrases like "KOSPI 8000" and "Public Growth Fund sold out."
At the cabinet meeting that morning, after receiving a report from Financial Services Commission Chairperson Lee Eog-weon on the sales status of the Public Growth Fund, Lee said, "Going forward, because Korea's economic structure is highly likely to shift to finance- and asset-centered, the so-called 'income gap' is an issue, but now the 'asset gap' will become even more severe."
In particular, noting that 20% of the total allocation was prioritized for a low-income tranche when selling the Public Growth Fund but actual demand reached 40%, Lee said, "In the stock market, people who held large-cap blue chips saw 10-fold to 20-fold gains, but if you don't hold stocks you're excluded, and the gap keeps widening based on whether you have assets or not. We need to ease this disparity." Lee then asked, "Are there concrete measures to strengthen the rate of return?"
In response, Chairperson Lee Eog-weon said, "Absorbing losses is a bottom safety device, and the tax code basically helps secure the rate of return, but the most important thing is to manage it well," adding, "We selected 10 managers and set up a competitive system." Lee also said, "Because this is managing the public's funds, from the managers' standpoint there is also 'reputation risk,' so we assigned top talent to this (fund management)."
Lee said, "If management goes well, for example, we should consider offering incentives for government fiscal execution or policy finance," adding, "As they watch the booming stock market, people who felt excluded and alienated seem to be thinking they might find opportunities here. We need to manage this really well so it becomes a chance, even if only a little, to narrow the asset gap."