Jim Rogers touts potential of Korean Peninsula during South Korean CEO summit

“When the Armistice Line comes down not long from now, Korea is going to be the most interesting place in the world.”

Jim Rogers, who has been referred to as an “investment genius,” remains unchanged in his love for Korea. The chairman of Rogers Holdings once again voiced his view that Korea is poised to become the “hottest” region in the world once inter-Korean relations improve and reunification occurs, as capital pours in from around the world thanks to the Korean Peninsula’s geopolitical position.

At a South Korea-ASEAN CEO summit co-organized by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) on Nov. 25 at the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center (BEXCO), Rogers delivered a keynote speech on “global trade environment changes and the role of ASEAN.”

“Dramatic changes are taking place in Asia, and Korea is going to be the most interesting region going forward,” he predicted.

“Japan has reached its peak and is in decline, while the Korean Peninsula is poised to achieve an economic revival as North Korean resources and labor combine with South Korea capital and manufacturing,” he said.

“Combining North and South Korea gives you a country of 80 million people on the border with China. They’ll be capable of producing anything and selling products to markets around the world,” he added.

Rogers also predicted, “Once peace is established on the Korean Peninsula through reunification, there is a greater likelihood of defense budgets being used for other areas.”

“[Change on the Korean Peninsula] is not far away,” he said.

He went on to say that the peninsula “could end up as a global transportation hub once the [Chinese] Belt and Road Initiative policies are implemented and linkages with the Trans-Siberian Railway are rebuilt,” adding that ASEAN would “develop into a new trade route and market driving prosperity for the rest of the world.”

“With abundant resources, low debt, and a population of 600 million people, ASEAN is set to emerge as a new leader joining East Asia in driving global prosperity,” he said.

This is not the first time Rogers has made rosy predictions for South Korea and Asia as inter-Korean relations improve. For decades, he has praised the future potential of Asian markets, choosing to educate his own children in China. He has particularly stressed the possibility of massive overseas investment inflows once peace is established on the Korean Peninsula, explaining that he would “buy up land near the Armistice Line if I could.” During a visit to South Korea last May, he said, “I’m an investor who sees where opportunity lies and invests there.”

“In the past, a lot of people emigrated from South Korea to other countries like Japan, but we need to tell them to come back now. It’s the land of the future,” he said at the time.

- Source, Hankyoreh

Jim Rogers still optimistic about investing in North Korea

Jim Rogers, the Singapore-based US investor and chairman of Rogers Holdings, said he was still optimistic about investing in North Korea even after the country’s leader Kim Jong-un ordered the removal of all South Korean facilities from the Kumgangsan resort.

“I’ve never met the man so I don’t know what he thinks, but I speculated that maybe, what he was doing was part of a negotiation ploy,” Rogers said in a telephone interview with The Korea Herald on Sunday.

“If you tell somebody you’re going to do bad things, then they come and start to negotiate. I would suspect that he is trying to get better deals because he needs foreign investment very, very much.”

Rogers said he could not imagine Kim taking away investments that foreigners had made in North Korea because that would scare away other foreign investors.

“He wants to open North Korea, rebuild its economy and has said that he wants to do for North Korea what Deng Xiaoping did for China. He wants a peace regime,” Rogers said.

“I would like to invest in North Korea, but I’m not allowed to now because I’m an American and it’s illegal. ... Tourism is an obvious investment opportunity because the country has never been on the world tourism map. Once the North opens up, many people will want to go and see its beaches, mountains, temples and other man-made sites.”

Rogers was appointed outside director of Ananti, a South Korean company which built and managed a golf course in the Kumgangsan resort, in 2018.

On denuclearization of North Korea, Rogers said China, Russia, and South and North Koreas want it, but Japan was against it because it could not compete with an “open Korea.”

“The problem is the American army. South Korea is the only place in the world where America can have troops near the Chinese and Russian borders. So they don’t want to withdraw,” he said.

“I thought Mr. Moon Jae-in was tough enough to tell Trump to withdraw the US troops. ... Think of all the money South and North Korea would save if they didn’t have to spend so much on defense.”

About the global economy, Rogers said there were signs that the world was getting closer to the worst economic downturn in his lifetime.

“In 2008, we had a recession because of too much debt, and now the debt is much higher everywhere. ... Even China, which in 2008 had a lot of money saved for a rainy day, has debt now. So the next time we have a problem, it’s going to be terrible,” he said.

- Source, Korea Herald

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