South Korea Index (EWY)

[laserboy]

South Korean stocks, in my opinion, are among the most attractive in the world right now. They sell for extremely low valuations relative to other markets. EWY for instance has a collective PE of 8.5 less than half that of the S&P500.

Those types of valuations are usually reserved for emerging markets such as Brazil or Russia. But South Korea has extremely developed markets probably closer to Japan. They have among the highest levels of income and GDP per capita in the world.

Furthermore their top companies are among the "best in class" worldwide and extremely competitive in the global marketplace. Posco is probably the finest steel producer in the world. The same could be said for Samsung in memory, LCD's, and consumer electronics. They are leaders in online gaming, which is one of the few industries in the world I am actually bullish on. Not bad for a country of 50 million.

Their currency is very strong and should be among the primary beneficiaries of any further revaluation of the Chinese yuan. Though this could be a two edged sword if you are investing in Korean exporters.

The primary risk is that they are very dependent on exports, particularly to the US and China, so their economy will also suffer during the upcoming depression. Also their manufacturing sector will ultimately be squeezed by China and they currently have high levels of consumer debt.

All in all, if you insist on owning stocks, you could do a lot worse than EWY.