, Columnist
What's Worse Than Corrupt Billionaires? Socialism
Investors have long been wary of South Korea’s family-run conglomerates. Now the government’s leftist turn is adding a fresh concern.
Investors are over the Moon.
Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
What’s worse than billionaires who bribe government officials? The “Gangnam Left,” stock pickers may say.
The term, and subject of a book by Chonbuk National University professor Kang Junman, is a dig at South Korea’s wealthy elite who advocate socialist policies, such as boosting the minimum wage and spending billions to create public-sector jobs. Some of these technocrats have found themselves in hot water recently: President Moon Jae-in’s recently appointed justice minister is now facing corruption allegations.