Is a hedge fund the same as a private fund?

'Hedge fund' commonly refers to a fund that raises money by private placement from a small number of high-net-worth investors and invests actively not only in stocks and bonds but also in high-risk, high-return assets such as derivatives, sometimes increasing the scale of its investments through borrowing.

In other words, a hedge fund can be understood as one form of fund operated on a private placement basis. In Korea, 'professional-investment private funds' used to be called hedge funds, and they became general private funds after the 2021 reform.