South Korean man made a 402-fold return on stocks he heavily invested in before going to prison, after six years

GLONGHUI, May 12 — According to Red Star News, a South Korean man, Mr. A, recently shared his “legendary experience” of being “forced” to hold a stock and making hundreds of times profit. No media outlet has yet independently verified the story. According to account records posted by Mr. A, in March 2020, he bought Hyosung Heavy Industries stock with 261 million KRW (around 1.2 million CNY), after which he faced imprisonment. When he was finally released from prison recently, he discovered that his investment was now worth 105.21 billion KRW (approximately 490 million CNY). This “genius investment” with a return of more than 402 times sparked a wave of “envy, jealousy, and hate” online across South Korea.

However, Mr. A stated he is by no means an investment genius. Had he not been unable to act due to being incarcerated, he likely would have sold all his shares as soon as the stock made some gains. The original 261 million KRW investment was his entire “jeonse” deposit. “Jeonse” is a very popular and unique housing lease system in South Korea at that time, where tenants pay a massive lump sum deposit to the landlord (usually more than 60% of the house’s value) and then live there rent-free for a set period (usually two years), after which the landlord returns the full deposit.

Mr. A explained that his decision was based on his premonition of losing his lawsuit and being imprisoned, so he no longer needed to rent a property. He believed the outbreak of the pandemic had caused market sentiment in South Korea to hit rock bottom, making it a perfect time to buy the dip.