Kim Moon-soo, a former People Power Party presidential candidate, is estimated to reap more than a 100-fold gain from SK hynix shares. It stems from the "own SK hynix shares campaign" he pursued while serving as Gyeonggi governor.
On the 25th, SK hynix shares believed to be held by the former candidate drew attention on online communities.
In his presidential candidate asset filing in May last year, the former candidate was shown to hold 30 shares of SK hynix. His spouse, Seol Nan-young, also held 10 shares.
The shares were purchased in Feb. 2007 at the NongHyup Gyeonggi Provincial Government Branch Office under the "own SK hynix shares campaign" during the former candidate's tenure as Gyeonggi governor.
At the time, the former candidate said, "Share prices were falling and the future seemed uncertain, so I put my intention into encouraging and supporting SK hynix," and bought the shares at around 20,000 won per share.
At the time, SK hynix was in a difficult situation because it failed to win government approval for expanding its Icheon plant due to an issue of copper discharge through wastewater.
The former candidate said, "The amount of copper discharged by SK hynix is the same as the amount of copper excreted annually by 190 pigs," and added, "We will reduce the number of pigs raised in the Icheon area by 190, so allow the expansion."
The former candidate's SK hynix shares were also mentioned in July last year by Kim Jae-won, a People Power Party supreme council member who was then his chief of staff.
On a YouTube channel at the time, Kim said, "Didn't the former candidate attract Samsung Electronics and SK hynix to the province during his term as Gyeonggi governor?" and added, "Back then, SK hynix's share price was a mess, so Gyeonggi residents reportedly ran a campaign to buy its shares, but he doesn't know how much those shares are worth. It seems he didn't sell because he didn't know how."
As of 10 a.m. that day, SK hynix was trading at 2,768,000 won per share.