Buffett says comfortable investing in South Korea

Buffett says comfortable investing in South Korea
Reuters - Monday, May 5 12:52 am

OMAHA, Nebraska (Reuters) - Warren Buffett said on Sunday his Berkshire Hathaway insurance and investment company might invest more in South Korea, following a successful investment in the steelmaker POSCO .

"We certainly are comfortable investing in Korea, as evidenced by our Posco investment," and further investments in the country are "not inconceivable," Buffett said at a news conference, a day after Berkshire's annual shareholder meeting in Omaha.

"We like the ethos of Korea for shareholders and we like the performance of the businesses."

He also said "that stock market got about as cheap as any stock market I've seen in my lifetime in the period a couple of years before we bought in."

Charlie Munger, Berkshire's vice chairman, added at the news conference: "I think POSCO is the best steel company in the world and I think number two is a significant step behind."

Berkshire has said it ended 2007 with a $2.14 billion (1.08 billion pound) stake in POSCO, or 4.5 percent, for which it had paid $572 million.

Buffett added that Iscar Metalworking Cos, an Israeli company that in 2006 sold an 80 percent stake to Berkshire for $4 billion, has a South Korean unit whose performance has been "just miraculous."