The glass is certainly half full rather than half empty for investors in South Korea’s capital markets, judging by the positive way they have reacted to the extraordinary happenings of the past year. Namely, North Korea has been exploding nuclear bombs, firing off intercontinental ballistic missiles, and waging an aggressive war of words with South Korea and the US.
And in August, Jae-yong Lee, the vice-chairman and de facto head of South Korea’s largest company, Samsung, was found guilty of corruption and sentenced to five years in prison, though he is appealing against the verdict. The case has cast a shadow on the business models of the country’s chaebols – the several dozen South Korean family-controlled conglomerates.