President rings NYSE opening bell, hosts Korea investment summit on Wall Street

By Anna J. Park

• Published Sep 25, 2025 11:51 PM KST
• Updated Sep 26, 2025 8:18 AM KST

NEW YORK — President Lee Jae Myung visited the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), where he rang the iconic opening bell and hosted an investment summit forum attended by Wall Street financiers and global investors, Thursday.

During the Korea investment summit, Lee underscored his commitment to pursuing policies that address the undervaluation of Korea’s stock market, vowing to turn geopolitical risks on the Korean Peninsula into opportunities for peace and stability, while strictly punishing any acts that disrupt market order. Lee also emphasized his administration's determination to push forward with strengthening corporate governance through the third round of commercial law reforms aimed at rationalizing corporate decision-making structures.

In addition, the Korean president pledged to accelerate necessary reforms needed for Korea’s inclusion in the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Developed Markets Index. He promised swift action to address the offshore foreign exchange market issue — a key hurdle to MSCI upgrade — and stressed his administration’s commitment to strengthening corporate governance.

The events aimed to bolster Korea’s standing as a premier investment destination, highlighting Lee’s determination to modernize the country’s capital markets and revitalize its stock market.

At the NYSE, Lee struck the opening bell to mark the start of trading. He was met with applause and cheers from investors and spectators gathered for the ceremony.

The bell-ringing is a tradition that symbolizes the prestige and authority of U.S. capital markets. Before the advent of electronic trading, the sound of the bell signaled to traders on the floor that the market was open for business.

According to the presidential office, Lee accepted the NYSE’s invitation — extended through the Korea Exchange — during his trip to New York for the United Nations General Assembly. The president viewed the occasion as especially meaningful, as the NYSE remains the world’s largest stock exchange by trading volume.

While past Korean presidents — including Kim Dae-jung in 1998, Roh Moo-hyun in 2003 and Lee Myung-bak in 2008 — have visited the exchange, this was the first time a Korean head of state hosted an investment forum directly at the NYSE.

Following the bell-ringing ceremony, Lee addressed an audience of leading global financiers, urging increased investments in Korea and calling for stronger economic and financial cooperation between the two countries.

He highlighted both the progress and remaining challenges in Korea’s capital markets.

“This year, Korea’s stock prices have risen more than almost anywhere else in the world, and by a considerable margin,” he said. “Yet by valuation metrics, we still have far to go — our price-to-book ratio barely exceeds 1.0, and the price-to-earnings ratio shows a similar picture. I believe there is significant room for further improvement.”

Lee outlined a series of measures his administration has implemented and plans to expand in order to strengthen market transparency and fairness.

“We will respond with the utmost severity to opaque practices such as stock manipulation or unfair trading,” the Korean president said. “In Korea I have said that those who attempt to rig the market will be ruined — and I mean that literally. We are already enforcing this principle.”

He also pointed to ongoing reforms in corporate governance. After amending commercial law in a second round of reforms to ensure fairer shareholder participation in decision-making, his government is now pushing a third reform package despite resistance. The new measures will include tax reforms to encourage greater dividend payouts, along with stricter rules to prevent companies from misusing treasury stock acquisitions to entrench management control.

Finally, Lee addressed what he described as a crucial factor in Korea’s undervaluation: geopolitical risks stemming from inter-Korean tensions and military standoffs. He expressed confidence that his administration’s efforts to pursue peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula would help reduce such risks and further elevate Korea’s market standing.

Attendees included senior Korean financial policymakers, the heads of the Korea Exchange, the National Pension Service and Korea Investment Corp., along with representatives of major banks and asset managers.

Also in attendance were more than 20 prominent Wall Street figures representing investment banks, asset managers and private equity funds with trillions of dollars in global assets under management, such as Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser, UBS Investment Bank President Marco Valla, J.P. Morgan Asset Management CEO Mary Erdoes, Global Head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management Marc Nachmann, Blackstone COO John Gray, KKR CEO Joseph Bae and more.

Founded in 1792 and now in its 233rd year, the New York Stock Exchange remains the most recognizable symbol of Wall Street. It operates five exchanges and, as of July, had a market capitalization of about $30 trillion, the largest in the world by trading volume. Through cycles of reform and innovation, it has retained both its competitiveness and its role as a cornerstone of global finance.

The exchange also maintains close ties with Korean companies. Since the 1990s, several major Korean corporations and financial institutions, including the Korea Electric Power Corp., POSCO, KB Financial Group and Shinhan Financial Group, have been listed on the NYSE.