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The Perils of Protectionism: Korea's Foreign Investment Challenge

protest_beefwith

Henry Seggerman
Manager
Korea International Investment Fund

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Headline grabbing rallies against American beef imports last year cast doubt for some observers over the image of South Korea as a dynamic, outward-looking member of the international economic community. The Korean government, eager to portray South Korea as friendly to foreign business, is now facing a multi-year decline in Foreign Direct Investment in the wake of domestic protests and a series of highly publicized investigations and court cases against American companies.
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Korean stock market specialist Henry Seggerman contends that protectionist government policies and popular sentiment have inflicted harm on Korea’s economic development. Seggerman will discuss Korean protectionism in the context of the current worldwide financial crisis, free trade opponents in the United States, and lessons learned from the protectionist backlash to the 1929 Stock Market Crash.

About the Speaker

Henry Seggerman is manager of Korea International Investment Fund (KIIF), the oldest offshore fund invested in South Korea’s stock market.  KIIF has survived the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, the Dot-com Bubble and the subprime mortgage crisis.  From its launch in 1992, when the Korean market first opened to foreigners, to the end of 2008, KIIF has outperformed Korea’s KOSPI index by an unrivalled 252%, rising 21% per year on average. Seggerman, a graduate of the University of Michigan, has visited over 150 Korean listed companies and numerous government ministries and NGOs, and has crusaded as an activist shareholder for chaebol reforms.  His management company was the first American company licensed by the Korean government to provide investment advisory services in Korea.  Seggerman also writes a column for the Korea Times and has been a contributor to such publications as FinanceAsia, Money Today, Maeil Business Daily, Bloomberg Television, The Wall Street Journal, Barrons, Seoul Economic Daily, Korea Economic Daily, and the Far East Economic Review. Seggerman is a member of the Manhattan Committee on Foreign Relations.

Podcast Available!
Click here to download the accompanying Powerpoint presentation from the Korea International Investment Fund Web site.
 
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