A two-day forum copresented by Woori Investment Bank, Institutional Investor magazine and The Korea Society connected leaders from top Korean conglomerates and American financial experts with interested investors. The gilded Art Deco inlays and marble floors at the Waldorf=Astoria Hotel spoke to the wealth of old New York, but those who gathered in these storied premises for the forum were firmly focused on the profits to be made in Seoul. The clear message that emerged from this high profile gathering was that investing in an economically vibrant South Korea is a bet that will pay off handsomely despite the rise of high-profile competitors in the Asian region such as China and India. Jonathan Lemcor, a senior sovereign credit strategist with The Vanguard Group, noted that South Korea may be a shrimp among whales demographically, but when measured in terms of per capita disposable income, it actually is three times the size of China and seven times the size of size of India. Indeed, the rapid growth of China and India present an array of profitable opportunities for South Korean companies. Richard Yi, vice president of Samsung Electronics, said that his company has shifted from seeing China simply as a low-cost production center to viewing it as a high value-added end market. South Korea's economic climate is set to get warmer still, and it will be easier for foreign capitalists to cash in on it. Lee Jang-Yung, an assistant governor at Korea's Financial Supervisory Service, oriented investors towards the future by outlining his government's ambitious plan to turn South Korea into a hub of the financial services industry.

June 2-3, 2005