December 2024
During my visit to Seoul, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Hyung-Kyoon (HK) Kim over a delicious Namyang Dairy Products ice cream. HK is one of the rare activist investors in Korea, and our conversation was both inspiring and insightful. He shared stories about his background, his time in the US where he crossed paths with legends like Warren Buffett, Todd Combs, and Bill Ackman, and his vision for driving meaningful change in Korea’s corporate governance. We also delved into the deeper meaning of being an activist investor—what it demands, what it represents, and the impact it can create.
The PDF version can be found below.
Marie: Can you introduce yourself and your background?
HK: I’m currently managing an activist hedge fund in Korea. My first job out of college was as a stock market regulator at the Korea Stock Exchange. My main role was to investigate corporate disclosures and decide which companies should be delisted from the stock market. Essentially, I analyzed public companies’ businesses, capital structures, capital soundness, and—most importantly—corporate governance.