"'Tens of Trillions of Won in Losses' Single-Stock Leverage... Former Policy Chief Kim Yongbeom Should Be Called as a Witness at the Audit [2026 National Assembly Audit]"

Park Seonghun of the People Power Party called for Kim Yong-beom, former presidential policy chief, to be summoned as a witness at the National Assembly Political Affairs Committee’s audit of the Financial Services Commission. Kim has been named a key figure in the introduction of single-stock leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, which led to extreme volatility in the KOSPI and massive losses for individual investors.

People Power Party lawmaker Park Seonghun enters the National Assembly Members' Office Building in Yeouido, Seoul. The photo is unrelated to the article. Yonhap News Agency.

At the committee’s audit of the Financial Services Commission on Oct. 8, Park said, “The hasty launch of single-stock leveraged ETFs just a week before the local elections caused losses of 54 trillion won for the public.” He added, “There are allegations that the presidential office intervened in the launch of high-risk financial products. Why, then, is Kim not being called as a witness?”

“It is coming to light that even the National Pension Service was mobilized to artificially prop up stock prices,” he said. “As a result of aggressively buying domestic stocks after changing internal rules, the National Pension Service lost 182 trillion won in July alone.” He added, “That is enough to cover the payments the National Pension Service could make to the public over three and a half years. And yet Kim is not being called as a witness?”

Park also requested that Hwang Seongyeop, chairman of the Korea Financial Investment Association, be called as a witness. “Yesterday, an official from Mirae Asset Securities said that one of the company’s executives attended a meeting hosted by Kwon Dae-young, who was then vice chairman of the Financial Services Commission,” he said. “The association reportedly proposed introducing the product at that meeting. Please also call Chairman Hwang as a regular witness at the audit.”

The People Power Party had previously sought to call Kim and other key figures involved in introducing single-stock leveraged ETFs as witnesses at this audit, but no agreement was reached between the ruling and opposition parties because the Democratic Party of Korea opposed the request.

Park Juntae, also of the People Power Party, said, “Kim resigned and was the first to run away.” He noted, “The Minister of Finance and Economy testified at the audit that the ministry had no involvement in introducing single-stock leveraged ETFs. That leaves the Financial Services Commission and the Korea Financial Investment Association responsible.” He added, “The association has been telling the National Assembly that it acted on instructions from the presidential office. We wanted to call witnesses at today’s audit to verify that, but the witness request was rejected.”

Questions at the audit were expected to focus on whether the presidential office intervened in the decision to introduce single-stock leveraged ETFs, cyberattacks targeting the financial sector, and the reasons behind the Korea Development Bank and Industrial Bank of Korea’s investments in the film “Assassins.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.