Prologue: Why the Korean Stock Market Now?

Chapter 1: KOSPI 5000 Target: Let's Fix the Structure
The Lee Jae-myung administration aims for 'structure', not 'stock prices' / The long tunnel of stagnation, the Korean stock market deeply troubled / Becoming an uninvited guest / The trap of undervaluation, a market with paralyzed fundraising functions / Promising ventures' leaving Korea, cracks in market trust / Collapsed trust in the capital market, 'Korean wealth' shaken / Concentration in real estate, structural imbalance in wealth / Retirement pensions, from 'deferred wages' to 'investment assets' / It's time to change the system: The beginning of Value-Up 2.0

Chapter 2: The Political Economy of Kilowatts: KEPCO's Risks in the AI ​​Era
AI is expensive / The golden age of AI, the power war has begun / SMR revived by AI, a reversal of the energy paradigm / A questionable first defeat: Transmission grid issues / Korea's ability to solve system problems revealed by power problems / A smarter power generation structure, rather than more transmission grids / Distribute demand: A new balance created by self-sufficiency / Solutions to lower peak demand and the return of ESS / Korea's power industry trapped in the framework of the industrialization era / An opportunity for a reversal created by AI / The inside story of KEPCO's problem: Public enterprise governance and responsibility / 'Sell KEPCO' means 'Sell Korea'

Chapter 3: Blind Spots in Korea's Climate Policy: Electricity
Climate crisis, we were not prepared / Davos warned of the 'economics of climate' / The key to responding to climate change is the redesign of electricity / Korea's starting point for carbon reduction is ultimately electricity / RE100, Korea facing the toughest test / How will Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix achieve RE100? / Carbon becomes a tariff: Trade barriers created by CBAM / CCA, the beginning of the American-style carbon race / Carbon emissions intensity, Korea's slow transition / The challenge of decarbonizing electricity generation / The paradox of an industrial powerhouse, the share of renewable energy at the bottom of the G20 / The shadow of coal: The ongoing crisis created by past policies

Chapter 4: Starting Lines for Climate Finance and Climate Tech
Climate change triple whammy / Korea's climate finance is just starting out / The spark of private climate finance that venture capital must ignite / The cost of 'net zero': Time to face reality / Renewable energy PF, the first test bed for climate finance / Climate tech, beyond technology, into business / The Bank of Korea's warning: 'Climate technology investment' has stalled / Climate tech investment, unable to keep up with the world's pace / Climate tech unicorn companies dominated by the US and China / Current status of Korean climate tech: Hydrogen and CCUS / CCS: Storage is more difficult than capture / Climate tech and carbon markets must coexist / There will be no KOSPI 5,000 without climate finance / The next unicorn will come from 'climate tech'

Chapter 5: From Strengthening Shareholder Rights to the Korea Premium
'Who Cares Wins', the beginning of ESG and the shift in investment philosophy / ESG and shareholder capitalism, conflict or evolution / Value investing and ESG, sustainability where fundamentals meet / ESG investing, beyond stakeholder capitalism / ESG vs.
Responsible investing: A similar yet different investment philosophy / ESG investing must evolve into sustainable value-add / The era of "governance value-add" ushered in by the revision of the Commercial Act

Chapter 6: The National Pension Service, a Market Ally: A Sustainable Driver for Quantum Up
The Wall of 'Asia's 8th Place': The Reality of Korea's Corporate Governance / CalPERS's Shareholder Action: A Laboratory That Changed Businesses / The National Pension Service's Awakening: Following the CalPERS Effect / Stewardship Code: Beyond Declaration and into Practice / ESG Investment: The Shadow of the Global 3rd Largest Pension / Competition Between Korean and Japanese Pension Funds: Why Japan's GPIF Is Ahead / Shareholder Activism in Asia: Korea Is Changing Too / Towards a 'Korea Premium': Raise the Voice of Institutions / The Gap in ESG Implementation: Cooperation Between the Government and the Market Is the Answer

Chapter 7: Trump 2.0: The Return of Policy Risk and the Realignment of ESG
ESG, a market that has slowed but is evolving / Sustainable finance, becoming a new standard for global capital / The Trump era's backlash: the silent 'greenhushing' of ESG / Energy duopoly: American pragmatism that expanded both oil and solar / Texas' solar power and the pursuit of American practicality / Europe, the birthplace of ESG, the impact of the 'omnibus package' / Pragmatism over speed: the EU's new balance point / Why Korea must not miss the turning point of ESG

Chapter 8: Policy, Market, and Governance: The Triangular Framework of Lee Jae-myung's Economy
The speed of climate response will determine the outcome over the next five years / Traces of two administrations, lessons from energy transition policies / A pragmatic government stands at the test of climate policy / The reality and solutions of the three major tasks: NDC, emissions trading, and climate disclosure / Climate leadership is completed through execution / Reading the direction of climate and energy in the Lee Jae-myung administration's national blueprint / Companies and investors, survival strategies in the era of climate risk / 'Labor heading towards death': The harsh reality of industrial sites / Mobilizing all resources, including ESG, to achieve zero major accidents / The dilemma of a semiconductor superpower: The debate over the 52-hour workweek / Finding a balance between reduced work hours, flexibility, and sustainability / Korea's corporate governance at an inflection point, the first step toward restoring trust / Angry shareholders demand innovation in corporate governance / Governance reform, the beginning of a reevaluation of the Korean stock market

Chapter 9: Towards the Korea Premium: The Next Cycle's Investment Grammar
The potential of Korea's ESG disclosures, drawing attention from global capital / The virtuous cycle of ESG will usher in the era of Value-Up 2.0 / Value-Up 2.0: A joint blueprint for investors, companies, and the government / The first principle of investment: "Don't fight the government" / Simple but effective: Four strategies that will move the market

Epilogue Why, what, and how do we change?

“KOSPI 5000 is not a number, but a unit of trust.”
“The undervaluation of the Korean economy is not a corporate problem, but a systemic problem.”
“The country that controls the climate is ultimately the country that controls electricity.”
“Value-up is not a policy to raise stock prices, but a reform to restore trust.”
“If retirement pensions don’t move, the Korean economy will never move.”
“ESG is not a moral language, it is an investment language.
“Trust becomes capital.”
“The National Pension Service is no longer an investor, but a sovereign of the market.”
“Climate policy is not an environmental issue, but a matter of industrial survival.”
“In the era of Trump 2.0, ESG is not disappearing.
“It just gets smarter.”
“The Korea premium is not a stock price premium, but a premium of trust.”

These are the words that come to mind after reading “Next Value Up.”
《Next Value Up》 is not simply a book about “raising stock prices.”
This is a proposal to rebuild the 'value system' of the Korean economy.
Above all, it presents a vision to redesign the Korean economy into a trust-based system.
The "KOSPI 5000" proposed by the Lee Jae-myung administration is not a numerical goal, but rather signifies a reorganization of policy, market, and governance.
The author explores the root causes of the "Korea Discount" from various angles, including distrust in the capital market, inefficient governance, a real estate-focused asset structure, and passive management of pension funds.
And the alternative proposed is ‘Value Up 2.0’.
This is not about increasing stock prices, but rather about creating a structural increase in corporate value, that is, an institutional structure to increase ROE (return on equity) and reduce COE (cost of equity).
Set against the backdrop of an era intertwined with AI, the climate crisis, and energy transition, the book analyzes the triple risks facing the Korean capital market—electricity, climate, and finance.
By diagnosing KEPCO's debt structure, rigidity in electricity rates, bottlenecks in renewable energy, and the absence of climate finance, it offers the insight that "a country that governs the climate is a country that governs electricity."
Furthermore, it presents a Korean model of "market democracy" through the National Pension Service's stewardship, transparency in ESG disclosure, strengthening shareholder rights, and expanding responsible investment by pension funds.
The core that runs through all of this is a ‘society where trust becomes capital.’
As global investors begin to take notice of Korea's Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Disclosure System (KSSB), the Korean economy's next leap forward hinges on institutional trust in transparency, fairness, and consistency.
"Next Value Up" is an "economics of trust" that combines capital, climate, and policy into a single language, and is a practical manifesto designing the next cycle of the Korean capital market.

●The goal of reaching KOSPI 5000 is possible! How? How?

Why can't the Korean stock market escape the shackles of "undervaluation"? This book goes beyond simple stock price debates and confronts the structural limitations of the Korean economy head-on.
The Lee Jae-myung administration's "KOSPI 5000" is not a numerical ambition, but a declaration to "fix the structure."
In the early 2020s, when foreign capital was flowing out and even domestic investors were turning away, the Korean stock market was an "uninvited guest" on the global stage.
Venture companies headed to the U.S. market because they were not properly valued, and IPOs, the main source of corporate funding, lost credibility.
As the capital market failed to function properly, the nation's wealth also faltered.
A society where retirement pensions are only at the level of deposit returns, and most assets are tied up in real estate.
Korea has become a country of 'sleeping money' rather than 'working money'.
The author proposes a transformation of the political, financial, and social systems to break this vicious cycle.
The reason the government should target 'governance structure' rather than stock prices is the starting point of the attempt to expand directors' duty of loyalty to shareholders through revisions to the Commercial Act and to transform retirement pensions into 'investment assets' rather than 'deferred wages.'
"Restoring trust is more important than the rise in the index." Only when money flowing from real estate flows into industry, from short-term speculation to long-term value, and from closed corporate governance to open capital markets will the "KOSPI 5000" become a reality.

Korea's Electricity Risk: The Risk Called "KEPCO"

Competition in the AI ​​era is no longer a battle of data.
It's a power war.
The author addresses the structural risks faced by Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) at the intersection of AI, semiconductors, and the power grid. As AI shifts the industrial paradigm, a new "kilowatt political economy" has emerged. AI data centers demand massive amounts of power, and without a stable power transmission network, national competitiveness cannot be maintained.
However, Korea still remains stuck in the centralized power system of the industrial era.

Bottlenecks in the energy transition, such as grid saturation, limitations in renewable energy adoption, and local government licensing issues, are concentrated at KEPCO. Amidst the global trend of an "electricity renaissance" fueled by AI, KEPCO is actually holding back change.
The reality of KEPCO is still stuck in the inertia of the past.
The electricity rate system remains unchanged from 20 years ago, and transmission network licensing is blocked by conflict between local governments and residents.
If Korea Electric Power Corporation fails to achieve both the "marketization of electricity" and the "balance of publicness," it could become the biggest risk holding back the AI ​​era.
Failure to transition to energy will soon lead to a collapse of national competitiveness.
To achieve sustainable value-added, KEPCO must break free from its old framework and produce "smarter electricity," not just "more electricity."
This is a warning that it cannot be too late: "If we do not understand the future of electricity, there is no future for our country."

●Talking about climate in the language of economics

2023 and 2024 were years when Earth experienced record-breaking temperatures.
Less than a decade after the Paris Agreement, the international community is already concerned about the failure to achieve the 1.5°C target.
However, Korea is still unable to break away from its coal-centric energy structure, and its carbon neutrality roadmap is losing its effectiveness.
To achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, the share of electricity in final energy needs to double or triple from the current level, but the electrification rate remains at around 20%.
The transition in high-energy sectors such as transportation, heating, and industry is delayed, and the government's plans remain at a declarative level.

The book identifies the rigidity of Korea's electricity policy and the absence of renewable energy infrastructure as vulnerabilities in Korea's climate response.
Despite the power sector accounting for 35% of total greenhouse gas emissions, reductions in private coal power generation are minimal and expansion of renewable energy is slow.
The book also highlights changes in the international trade order, such as RE100 (Renewable Energy 100%) and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).
Global companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are already struggling to secure renewable energy by entering into overseas power purchase agreements (PPAs), but the institutional barriers in the domestic electricity market remain high.
In the harsh reality that “no electricity, no exports,” Korea stands on the threshold of a world where carbon will soon become a tariff.

For Korea's climate policy to truly move toward value-added, it must redesign electricity and reimagine the entire energy system.
Climate policy should be viewed not simply as an environmental agenda, but as a core economic strategy for national competitiveness.
Electricity reform is the answer to the climate crisis, and it is the only way for Korea to overcome the "carbon era."

ESG: A New Shareholder Principle Combining Profit and Ethics

The undervaluation of the Korean economy is called the 'Korea discount.'
The author argues that to solve this age-old problem, we must create “a market where shareholders are respected and a capital structure that builds trust.”
The key is ‘strengthening shareholder rights.’
Shareholder capitalism is a traditional model that maximizes shareholder profits, but ESG is an "evolved form of risk management" that considers both corporate sustainability and social responsibility.
Today, savvy investors are beginning to view ethics and sustainability as part of a company's value, not just financial returns.
Next Value Up defines ESG as “a new shareholder philosophy that combines profit and ethics.”
In other words, ESG is not a cost, but risk management, and it is the language of long-term value creation.
In the same vein, major global pension funds are adopting the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and companies are strengthening their disclosure of non-financial information.

The author also points out the full-scale spread of 'activist investing' and 'stewardship codes'.
As pension funds and institutional investors become more directly involved in the ESG management of their investee companies, the era of "active shareholderism" is dawning in the Korean market.
As a result, shareholder return policies such as stock buybacks and cancellations, and dividend increases are increasing explosively.
As of the first half of 2025, the scale of treasury stock cancellation has already exceeded the total for the previous year.
This is not a simple market event, but a signal that the Korean capital market has entered a phase of trust.


●National Pension Service's Hosiwoobo

The National Pension Service's adoption of the Stewardship Code, or "principles of fiduciary responsibility," in 2018 was a declaration.
From then on, the National Pension Service began to transform from a “pension that holds stocks” to a “pension that monitors the sustainability of companies.”
Although there was criticism that it was “pension socialism,” the National Pension Service has been developing its role as a market watcher by observing the market with the eyes of a tiger and walking silently like an ox.
The proportion of internal shareholders in Korean companies is approximately 40%, and treasury stock and shares held by related parties remain strong.
Within this, the National Pension Service functions as the ‘axis of market democracy’ representing a large number of external shareholders.
Now, a single vote from the National Pension Service is not just a voting right, but a signal that determines the direction of national capital.
The National Pension Service's stewardship activities are becoming more concrete every year.
Topics that could lead to tangible changes in corporate behavior, such as increasing dividends, adjusting executive compensation limits, legal violation risks, responding to climate change, industrial safety, and limiting investments in coal phase-out, have been brought to the National Pension Service's "dialogue table."
Beyond simply exercising voting rights, they have evolved into "responsible investors" who manage the company's climate risk and governance structure.

The author suggests the direction in which the National Pension Service should proceed through a comparison with Japan's GPIF (Government Pension Investment Fund).
Just as Japan pioneered the adoption of the stewardship code and spearheaded innovation in corporate governance, Korea's National Pension Service must now become a "leader in market reform," not just a mere "follower."
The National Pension Service currently manages over 1,000 trillion won in assets, of which responsible investment assets alone amount to 700 trillion won.
This is the force that will soon set the ethical standards for the Korean capital market.

The Trump 2.0 Era: Realigning ESG

As the world moves toward a green transition, America under Trump 2.0 has returned to its "dual pragmatism" of simultaneously growing oil, shale, and solar energy.
The author closely tracks how this shift is causing cracks in the global ESG market.
Trump's return is not simply a political event.
It means “the return of policy risk.”
As the global consensus toward carbon neutrality and ESG falters, multinational corporations and global capital are shifting from "greenwashing" to "green hushing," a survival strategy that involves refusing to address ESG.
However, this book says that it is not a 'retreat of ESG' but a 'realignment of ESG'.
The speed slowed down, but the direction did not change.
The climate crisis and energy transition are now irreversible structural trends in the global economy, and sustainable finance remains the common language of global capital.
Wall Street's biggest asset managers still run ESG funds, and European central banks are incorporating carbon risk into their monetary policies.
What's interesting is the new interpretation of American pragmatism.
In Texas, oil and solar coexist, and AI and data centers have become the biggest consumers of renewable energy.
The paradox of the Trump era is not found in “conservatism that ignores the environment,” but in “pragmatism that redeploys energy to politics.”
《Next Value Up》 concludes as follows:
“ESG is not going away.
“It’s just a compromise with reality and an evolution into a more strategic language.” The era of Trump 2.0 is not a regression of ESG, but a litmus test that verifies true sustainability.