"Someone must have decided"... President Lee draws the line on responsibility for leveraged ETFs

People Power Party criticizes, "54 trillion won in public losses, shows no intention of taking responsibility"
President Lee Jae-myung answers questions from reporters during a press conference held at the Blue House Guest House on the 18th. Yonhap News
Regarding the process of introducing single-stock leveraged ETFs, President Lee Jae-myung stated, "I have not yet identified the specific procedural details of how the decision was made. Someone must have decided it."
During a press conference at the Blue House Guest House on the 18th, President Lee said, "I have received reports that leveraged ETF products for companies like Samsung Electronics and Hynix have already been launched overseas, such as in Hong Kong, and because such systems do not exist domestically, our local investors are continuously heading abroad to invest in leveraged ETFs."
He further explained, "At that time, exchange rates were extremely high, making them a concern, and stock prices were continuously rising. Therefore, I received reports that since domestic investors were buying leveraged ETFs for Samsung, Hynix, etc., in overseas markets, there were many advantages to allowing them to buy them domestically."
He also mentioned that the ability to use leveraged products domestically without having to directly purchase foreign currency was a background factor for the introduction. President Lee said, "If you buy (leverage) overseas, you have to buy dollars. If you do it domestically, there is no need, which helps stabilize the foreign exchange market. The reasoning was, 'Why let them go abroad? We should let them invest domestically.' In principle, that was a correct argument."
However, he explained that supplementary measures were taken after issues regarding leveraged ETFs arose. President Lee said, "I understand that later, when leverage became an issue, various supplementary measures were implemented. It has reached a state where it is almost no longer a problem, but since those who bought these leveraged products at the time suffered significant losses, the public outcry seems to have grown."
President Lee stated, "Even a ghost wouldn't know whether stock prices will rise or whether one will profit or lose through investment, but I suspect there may have been some instability in government policy. It is possible to criticize that it would have been better if all those later supplementary measures had been equipped in advance. It seems true that there were shortcomings."
In relation to this, Jang Dong-hyeok, representative of the People Power Party, took issue with President Lee's remarks on Facebook today.
Regarding President Lee's comment that "Someone must have decided it" concerning the introduction of leveraged ETFs, Representative Jang criticized, "He says he received reports, yet he doesn't know who made the decision? This shows absolutely no intention of taking responsibility for the 54 trillion won in public losses."
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