President Lee Jae Myung has said that when South Korean companies are properly valued, national wealth increases accordingly, after being asked to comment on the benchmark stock index recently topping five-thousand in mid-trade.

Lee made the remark Friday during a town hall meeting at the Ulsan Exhibition Convention Center after saying many were elated about the Korea Composite Stock Price Index(KOSPI) breaking the five-thousand milestone for the first time the previous day. 

Lee said some might think the KOSPI’s performance has nothing to do with their lives but stressed that a rise in the benchmark index is a positive thing in terms of increasing national wealth. 

In particular, the president said the performance of South Korean shares have thwarted concerns about the depletion of the national pension fund, pointing out that the value of domestic listed stocks held by the National Pension Service surged to 250 trillion won. 

That’s around 170-point-five billion U.S. dollars.

The KOSPI topped the five-thousand mark in mid-trade Thursday and Friday but ended below that level for both sessions, closing out the week at four-thousand-990-point-07.