Top global investor predicts land of investment opportunities in unified Korea

Posted on : 2019-04-23 17:38 KST Modified on : 2019-04-23 17:38 KST
Jim Rogers says Asia will be key to 21st Century in lecture at Pusan National University
Globally renowned investor Jim Rogers (right)
Globally renowned investor Jim Rogers (right)

“New opportunities are arising in South Korea.”

Jim Rogers, considered one of the world’s top three investors, predicted in an Apr. 22 special lecture that South Korea would be “a very interesting country within the world.” The 78-year-old chairman of Rogers Holdings delivered the talk on “Korean Unification and the Future” at the large conference room on the third floor of Pusan National University’s main building in the Jangjeon neighborhood of Busan’s Geumjeong District.

Explaining that he had sold his New York home to move to Singapore, Rogers shared an optimistic view of the future for a reunified Korea.

“If the 19th century was the age of Britain and the 20th century was the age of the US, then Asia is the key to the 21st century,” he said.

“In South Korea’s case, the DMZ will soon go away, and North Korean resources will be aligned with the Korean Peninsula’s 80 million people,” he predicted.

Rogers is considered one of the world’s top investors alongside Warren Buffett and George Soros. Born in Alabama in 1942, he studied history, philosophy, political science, and economics at Yale and Oxford’s Balliol College before going to work in the heart of US finance on Wall Street. Establishing the Quantum Fund hedge fund in 1969 with Soros – a colleague at a Wall Street investment firm – he made a name for himself as a global investor earning a miraculous 4,200% rate of return over a 10-year period.

For the past few years, Rogers has called for the purchasing of land near the DMZ and announced plans to invest all his assets in North Korea. As an investor, he has repeatedly emphasized North Korea’s investment potential.

“A lot of opportunities are going to arise in North Korea. Investors in the US and Japan are going to start heading to North Korea now,” he predicted.

He also announced plans to establish a scholarship fund to help North Korean students study in South Korea.

Rogers, who has visited North Korea numerous times, predicted that a unified South and North Korea would present a land of opportunity.

“To seize business opportunities, you need to stake out a place with potential,” he said.

“The Korean Peninsula’s infrastructure will change completely [when reunification occurs], allowing people to travel by car from Busan to London,” he added.

”I’m going to tell my daughters to study Korean

“I told my eleven- and six-year-old daughters to study Mandarin, but now I’m going to tell them to study Korean.”

Rogers also predicted, “South Korea’s stature will change once reunification happens and the border disappears.”

“People around the world will enjoy South Korea’s history, food, architecture, and beautiful scenery.

South Korea’s young people in Japan should return to South Korea and seize the opportunities,” he said.

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At the same time, Rogers also said he found it “heartbreaking to see this craze [among South Korean young people] about wanting to be government employees.”

Visiting Busan to receive an honorary PhD. from Pusan National University, Rogers was scheduled to deliver a special talk at the Busan Bank headquarters on “Global Economic Prospects and Investment Strategy,” followed by a 7 pm dinner with local businesspeople at the Ananti Cove Penthouse in Busan’s Gijang County. At 8 am on Apr. 23, he was scheduled to appear with Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don on the local Busan/South Gyeongsang station KNN to discuss topics including economic cooperation with North Korea and local economic issues.

By Kim Kwang-soo, Busan correspondent

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]

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