eFM News

South Korea presidential election, scheduled for March 9, is drawing regional and global attention for what changes it may lead to for Asia's fourth-largest economy.

Eyeing the country's potential is renowned American investor Jim Rogers, who says he is very keen on the Korean Peninsula, including inter-Korean relations, economic growth and investment opportunities.

Rogers, co-founder of the Quantum Fund, will hold a virtual meeting Thursday with Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung to discuss the future of South Korea.

Ahead of the event, Rogers spoke with TBS eFM's "This Morning" show and gave a preview of what he and Lee might discuss.

Rogers, emphasized he does not endorse any candidate, but gave the opinion that prosperity is likely an important issue for voters.

[Clip: Rogers]
I'm not Korean and so I can't tell people how to vote. But I would certainly look for prosperity to be a very major thing. I would look for a new country and new century, a new world for Korea, which you could have. And how do we get that? That would be the thing that I would be the most worried about...You're not having babies in South Korea and that's because of the uncertainty and the lack of great prosperity. That could all change very dramatically, very quickly."

Rogers suggested that prosperity could come by opening up the border between South and North Korea.

Although the 79-year-old tempered that idea by saying unification does not have to happen, he stressed the world has changed a lot.

"This is 2022, this is not 1952...As far as I can see, both Koreas would like to have peace," Rogers said.

He noted that all the natural resources in the North combined with the plethora of capital and management ability in the South "would be very exciting for the world and certainly for peace."