Park Jong-hoon, head of the Knowledge Economy Research Institute, expressed concern that the National Pension Service's increased investment in domestic stocks, particularly in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, effectively places the public's retirement funds into high-bandwidth memory (HBM) assets.
On July 7, a video titled "Is It Minus Without Samsung and SK Hynix? Breaking the Cycle of Poverty in the Stock Market" was released on Hanwha Financial's co-branded economic YouTube channel, PLUS TV.
The video featured economic YouTuber Shuka, Lee Sun-yeop, CEO of AFW Partners, and Park Jong-hoon discussing the domestic stock market.
Park began by outlining the primary role of the National Pension Service, stating, "The most important purpose of the National Pension is to earn money and increase returns. Stabilizing exchange rates or foreign exchange markets is not the primary goal; ensuring market stability is merely a secondary role."
He criticized the recent decision to increase the proportion of domestic stocks in the pension fund, calling it a departure from established investment principles. "The fund has traditionally operated based on scientific verification and principles, but this time those rules have been broken," he said, expressing unease about the domestic stock ratio nearing 30% amid a KOSPI that feels precarious, like being built on sand rather than a solid foundation.
Park highlighted the high volatility of the domestic stock market this year, noting that the KOSPI has experienced significant drops, triggering circuit breakers 11 times, with five of those occurring in 2026 alone. He warned that without a specific economic crisis, such volatility could lead foreign investors to view the KOSPI as an unstable market, potentially damaging long-term trust in the Korean stock market.
He identified the concentration of investments in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix as a major issue. "If all stocks were rising together, it wouldn't be a problem, but many stocks are actually declining now," he noted, referencing Finland's Nokia as a cautionary tale. "At one point, Nokia accounted for about 60% of the Helsinki stock market's market capitalization, and Finland's economy became overly dependent on it. When Nokia collapsed, Finland experienced years of negative growth."
Park emphasized that while the HBM industry is performing well, the overall economic conditions, including interest rates and exchange rates, remain unfavorable. He stressed the importance of ensuring that growth is evenly distributed across the market.
However, he clarified that he does not doubt the corporate competitiveness of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. "Personally, I believe Samsung and SK Hynix will continue to deliver excellent results in the coming years," he said, but added, "Just because performance improves doesn't mean stock prices will keep rising."
He cited Cisco Systems as an example, stating that despite being a leading growth stock comparable to NVIDIA in 2000, Cisco's stock plummeted after the dot-com bubble burst, even though its revenue continued to grow almost every year, only recovering its previous peak after 26 years.
Regarding the direction of the National Pension's management, Park referenced international examples. He warned, "It is dangerous when a country's economy and its citizens' retirement funds are tied together," citing Norway's sovereign wealth fund as a model. "Norway is heavily reliant on the oil industry, but its oil fund, which is the citizens' retirement fund, does not invest domestically by principle. This is to prevent the simultaneous collapse of the national economy and citizens' retirement funds in the event of instability in the oil sector."
He pointed out that South Korea has increased the domestic stock ratio in the National Pension from 14.4% to nearly 30%, with Samsung and SK Hynix accounting for nearly half of that. "Ultimately, the public's retirement funds are now invested in the HBM industry," he expressed concern.
Park concluded, "While developed countries are moving towards separating their national economies from citizens' retirement funds, we are going in the opposite direction. Relying on companies to request currency exchanges is not a fundamental solution; we need to establish long-term principles about what kind of economic structure we want to create."
Viewers of the video commented, "The National Pension breaks its principles too easily after setting them with many economists. If incompetent politicians get involved, this country can easily fall apart," and "The current state of the stock market is largely due to government policy." Others speculated that the decision to increase the stock ratio was influenced by local elections, while some expressed concerns about the market becoming a gambling arena.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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