For What It's Worth

Warren Buffett, the long-successful value investor who heads Berkshire Hathaway, said Thursday that the Seoul stock market was more attractively valued than other world markets.

"My impression is that the Korean market is modestly cheaper than other markets in the world," Buffett said. "I think the Korean market would do better for the next 10 years."

The benchmark Kospi trades at a 2006 price to earnings ratio of 17, compared with the Shanghai Composite index, which trades at a ratio of around 45 times 2007 earnings, making it one of the cheapest in Asia. Still, the Kospi has risen 38 percent this year, including a 2.2 percent gain Thursday.

"There is no reason there should be a 'bubble,' " Buffett said of the Seoul market. "The shares were way too cheap a couple of years ago."