Korean stock market undervalued?

[raylopez99]

The below article implies it might be. The curse of being too close
to China.

RL

S. Korea Adviser Tries to Woo Investors

David Eldon, a high-profile adviser to South Korean President-elect
Lee Myung-bak, talks during a press conference in Seoul, South Korea,
Sunday, Jan. Jin Sung-chul
By KELLY OLSEN (AP Business Writer)
From Associated Press
January 06, 2008 1:10 PM EST

SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea can attract more foreign investors
but needs to first address worries they have about putting money in
the country, a high-profile adviser to President-elect Lee Myung-bak
said Sunday.

David Eldon, the chairman of the Dubai International Financial Center
Authority, said openness, transparency, strong and consistently
applied laws, and "a level playing field" are requirements for drawing
the attention of foreign capital.

"These are all areas where potential investors say to me they are not
certain about, as far as Korea today is concerned," Eldon, a former
chairman of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp., the Asian arm of
HSBC Holdings PLC, told reporters.

Eldon was in South Korea to meet with transition team officials, as
well as Lee, who was elected last month on a pledge to boost growth
and create jobs in South Korea's economy, the world's 12th largest.
The team advises the president-elect and helps him prepare to take
office.

His appointment as an adviser has drawn attention in South Korea,
where suspicions about the aims of foreign investors run deep.

Eldon's comments came as the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy
announced Sunday that pledged foreign direct investment into the
country fell 6.5 percent in 2007 to $10.51 billion, the third
consecutive annual decline.

Lee, a conservative former chief executive officer of Hyundai
Engineering & Construction Co. with a reputation for achievement, won
the Dec. 19 election by a wide margin. He has advocated boosting
foreign investment.

His election brings to an end 10 years of liberal control at the
presidential Blue House, where fostering detente with communist North
Korea was a key policy aim. Lee, who has promised to take a harder
line on Pyongyang, is scheduled to take office Feb. 25.

"The president-elect has made it, I think, very clear that he wants to
open up the market for Korean companies moving overseas and also to
allow other companies to do more business within Korea," said Eldon,
who has known Lee since his years as mayor of Seoul.

Eldon said South Korean people must ultimately decide if they want a
larger foreign role in their economy, adding that he believes Lee's
election suggests they do.

"I am very hopeful that we can make some serious achievements," said
Eldon, a native of Scotland and who spent 37 years with the HSBC Group
in the Middle East and Asia.

He suggested South Korea has suffered from the rush by foreign
investors into neighboring China, and said efforts should be made to
draw their attention to the country.

"If you look at the next step from that at where else they should
invest in Asia, Korea must be on their list of countries to look at,"
Eldon said.

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