South Korean financial authorities are accelerating efforts to tighten capital market discipline, pledging tougher action against illegal practices aimed at avoiding delisting and pushing for timely exits of so-called zombie firms. Korea Exchange will introduce rules from July to delist penny stocks and raise standards for dealing with weak companies. Regulators also plan to curb duplicate listings and tighten reviews. Some decisions, including Hong Kong ELS fines and Samsung Securities approvals, remain delayed.

Nahyeon-seung (나현승), a Korea University professor, said frequent dual listings in South Korea’s capital market are a major cause of the “Korea discount” and called for a sharp expansion of minority shareholder rights. He said dual listings account for about 18 percent of market capitalisation, far above most major markets. He proposed requiring minority shareholder approval and limiting controlling shareholders’ voting rights, while warning that an outright ban could curb investment.