South Korean analyst sacked for saying greed is bad

SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean financial researcher was sacked for telling a TV talk show that people made unwise investment decisions because they were too greedy, his company said on Friday.

Han Sang-choon, deputy head of Mirae Asset Investment Education Institute, said investors ignored warnings over the past few months that trouble lay ahead for stocks and held on to funds thinking a big pay day was just around the corner.

"I reckon people haven't cashed in their funds because of personal greed and expectations (of profits)," he told an investor, according to quotes from the Friday TV show that appeared widely in South Korean media.

Even though Seoul shares ended down 2.73 percent on Friday for their lowest close since late October 2005, brokerage Mirae Asset did not like the investment advice.

"Therefore, we decided to sack our deputy head, Han Sang-choon, who gave individual views out of line with our institute's original purpose, and caused concern to investors," Kang Chang-hee, the head of the company's research institute said in a written statement.

Han could not be reached for comment.

(Reporting by Kim Yeon-hee and Kim Junghyun; Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)