Section
Equities
Listed Korean stocks, indices, ETFs and equity derivatives.
A 75-point stake vanished — and the filing didn't name who took over
Tongyang Life's Chinese owner reported selling its entire stake in one filing, the largest exit in our ledger of Korean ownership disclosures. Of the nine biggest full sell-outs we found, only three say a controlling shareholder changed.
Goldman's KOSPI upside went from 80% to 71.5%
Goldman Sachs kept its 12,000 KOSPI target unchanged. The 'upside' headline moved anyway — from about 80% to 71.5% — because two outlets, writing the same day, measured it against closes one 4.61% session apart.
A stock forecaster's low-end misses keep growing
A Korean outlet scores its own weekly KOSPI price forecasts against what actually happened. Three straight weeks: high forecasts stayed accurate, low forecasts missed by more each week — 2.89%, 6.61%, 8.10%.
Samsung Life's rumor answer: not confirmed, not denied
A news report said Samsung Fire and Samsung Life were buying large UK and US insurers. Samsung Life's own DART filing says only that it is reviewing investment targets — nothing decided. It has until October 2 to say more.
Samsung SDI's US battery JV cut its guaranteed debt 45% — the same year it turned its first profit
Samsung SDI cut its guarantee on StarPlus Energy's debt from $3.85bn to $2.11bn (−45.2%), the same filing showing the Stellantis battery venture's income swing from a ₩33.7bn loss in 2024 to a ₩123.1bn profit in 2025.
Cube Entertainment's co-CEO put ₩10bn into his own company — above market
Cube Entertainment filed a ₩10bn private placement, entirely to co-CEO Kang Seung-gon, its own largest shareholder. The price, ₩6,220, is 9.7% above the day's KOSDAQ close — the opposite of the discount typically seen in insider placements.
EcoPro BM's ₩886bn raise: 100% for an unnamed acquisition
EcoPro BM's rights issue creates 9,900,990 new shares at ₩89,500 — a 16% discount to the ₩106,500 close — diluting existing holders 9.2%. All ₩886.1bn raised is filed as 'business acquisition'; no target has been separately disclosed.
HYBE's operating profit was ₩49bn. One expense line was ₩295bn.
HYBE out-earned Korea's other three listed K-pop majors combined in FY2025 revenue — but posted the only net loss among them, ₩254.4bn. The swing traces to one filed line, six times the size of operating profit, that is never itemised.
JYP's 6.75% treasury stock hasn't moved since 2018 — traced to its 2013 listing
JYP Entertainment holds 6.75% of itself in treasury, far above the other five listed K-pop agencies checked. The count hasn't changed since a 2018 cancellation, and its own 5-year rule points back to JYP's 2013 backdoor listing.
HYBE alone is two-thirds of Korea's listed K-pop value
Korea's six listed K-pop agencies have a combined market value of ₩11.56 trillion. HYBE alone is 65.6% of that, more than the other five combined. A seventh name, CJ E&M, sits in DART's registry but filed and traded nothing in over a year.
Korea's margin debt hit a record. It moved to KOSPI.
Korea's margin loan balance hit a record ₩38.6 trillion on 24 June 2026, up 50% year-on-year. KOSDAQ's share fell from 48% in 2021 to 21% today — this year's leverage moved into large-cap KOSPI, not the smaller, speculative market.
KEPCO confirms ₩25tn power-prepay ask, terms unset
Korean outlets reported KEPCO asked Samsung Electronics (₩20tn) and SK Hynix (₩5tn) to prepay five years of power bills for chip-cluster grid buildout. KEPCO confirmed a proposal exists — amount, rate and timeline are still unset.
KOSPI hit 6,835.8, then fell 4% next day
A widely shared post said Korea's KOSPI closed at 6,835.8, up 0.23%. We checked it against the exchange's own data — it was exactly right, for that one day. The next session, the index dropped 3.99%.
From Celltrion to KG Mobility, one flaw repeats
This week we ranked 35 Korean capital-raising filings three ways — buybacks, rights issues, convertible bonds. In every single one, the size of the deal did not predict what it meant for existing shareholders.
KG Mobility's convertible bond dilutes shares 22%
Five Korean convertible bonds filed this week all pay 0% surface interest — the option to convert is the entire return. Potential dilution on conversion ranges from 1.0% to 22.0%, and it isn't the biggest raise that dilutes least.
Celltrion's biggest buyback won't cancel a share
Celltrion's ₩100.0bn buyback dwarfs eight others filed with Korea's regulator this week — and carries no cancellation clause. The three firms that do promise to cancel are the smallest on the list.
What Korea's pension's 107% return really measures
Korea's national pension reports a domestic-stock return of 107% for the first half of 2026. That number is real — and it does not mean Korean stocks doubled. Its label, money-weighted and provisional, is the whole story.
Samsung Biologics raised 300x more, diluted 11x less
Samsung Biologics' ₩3.00tn rights issue diluted shareholders 4.7%. PhionX raised 300 times less — and diluted 53.8%, eleven times more. Twenty-one filings this week show size doesn't predict dilution.
The stock rating that has no downside
Korean brokers issue tens of thousands of ratings and almost never say sell — 89 sell calls in twelve years. When a scale only points one way, what does a 'buy' actually tell you? We count the ratings and question the scale.
Korea's "biggest company" ranking measures hope, not output
Korea's largest-firm ranking is by market capitalization — a priced bet on the future, not what a company makes, employs, or earns. We call it capital intensity, not productivity. Here is why the ranking misleads.
Korea's rich list doesn't measure Lee Jae-yong. It measures KOSPI.
Samsung's Lee Jae-yong topped Korea's stock-wealth ranking at ₩25.88tn on 2 January 2026 — up 117% in a year. The gain was the market, not the man. So what does a ranking that doubles on a rally actually measure?
How many companies are listed in Korea? Fewer than quoted
Korea's stock market has 2,767 stock lines — but 115 are preferred shares (one company, two tickers) and 134 didn't trade today. The company count is lower.
Only 12 of Korea's 160 stock indices are up since the June peak
The KOSPI is up 125% in two years — a headline that hides the turn. From the 22 June peak, 148 of 160 indices have fallen, the median down 19.3%. The rally was chips; the correction is everything else. As of 3 Aug 2026. Not advice.
One in twenty listed Korean stocks didn't trade a single share
Korea's market is a barbell. On both days we've measured, two stocks were about half of all trading while roughly one in twenty listed issues traded nothing at all. A crowded head, a silent tail. Not advice.
Korea's 10 largest listed companies — and why most rankings double-count Samsung
The largest Korean companies by market value: Samsung Electronics is 29% of the whole market, SK hynix 21% — the two are nearly half. But most rankings count Samsung twice, because its preferred shares list separately. Not advice.
Four stocks are half of Korea's entire stock market
Of 2,764 listed companies, the four biggest are 52% of all market value and the top ten are 60%. Samsung alone is a quarter. Meanwhile 1,822 KOSDAQ names together are just 7%. Korea's market is a few giants and a very long tail. Not advice.
KOSDAQ is 7% of the market's value but 16% of its trading
Value and trading are two different maps. KOSDAQ holds 7% of Korea's market cap yet did 16% of one day's trading — its shares turn over more than twice as fast as KOSPI's. And 137 listed companies didn't trade at all. Not advice.
Women are 57% of the workforce at Korea's apparel firms and 8% at its steelmakers
Across listed firms the median female share of staff is 24%. But it splits hard by sector — about 57% in apparel, film and retail, under 10% in steel, autos and construction. Where women work divides more than how many. Not advice.
Korea's market carries 20 times more value per worker in finance than in apparel
Divide a listed company's market value by its headcount and industries split hard: a finance worker carries a median 470m won, an apparel or car-parts worker about 20-30m — twentyfold apart. Capital intensity, not output. Not advice.
Five Korean firms filed share buybacks today. Only one is cancelling the shares.
Buyback plans worth up to about 18 billion won reached the regulator on a single day. But the step that actually shrinks the share count — cancellation — appears in just one of them, Fims. The rest keep the stock in the drawer. Not advice.
The better a Korean company pays, the wider its gender gap
Rank listed companies by average pay and the gender gap widens as you climb. Firms paying under 50m won a head give women 75% of men's; those over 120m give 70%. A high-paying employer comes with a steeper ladder. Not advice.
At most Korean listed companies the boss has outlasted the workforce — often several times over
In seven of ten listed firms the chief executive has served longer than the average employee has worked there. The median CEO's tenure is 2.1 times the staff's, and a third run to three times or more. Not advice.
Korea's listed CEOs: the median has run the company eleven years, and hundreds far longer
Across filings for 2,455 listed companies, the median chief executive has served 11 years; 696 have led two decades or more, 77 over forty. We flag and exclude 148 whose reported tenure predates the company itself. Not advice.
Across Korea's listed companies, women's average pay is 73% of men's
Companies file average pay by gender. Across 2,720 listed firms the median woman's pay is 73.2% of the median man's, and four in ten sit below 70%. It is mostly a gap in who holds which job, not pay for the same work. Not advice.
Seventy-seven companies hold half of Korea's listed-market jobs
Across 2,790 listed companies that disclose headcount, 1.87 million people work. The ten largest hold 22% of them, the top hundred 55%, and just 77 firms account for half. The median listed company reports 160 employees. Not advice.
Korea's listed market spreads across 61 industries by count, but its value sits in one
No industry is more than 11% of listed companies — electronics leads at 320 firms, then machinery, publishing and pharma. Yet our index work put electronics at 60% of KOSPI's value. The company roster is broad; the money is not. Not advice.
Most of Korea's listed companies are young; nine are older than the republic
The median listed company was incorporated 27 years ago, four in ten within the last 25. But nine reach back over a century — banks and drugmakers whose filed founding dates land near 1900, before the Republic of Korea. Not advice.
Hiring more women does not narrow Korea's gender pay gap
You might expect firms with more women to pay women closer to men. They do not. From companies under 10% female to those over 60%, the median woman's pay holds near 73% of the man's — the gap barely moves with representation. Not advice.
A third of Korea's listed companies drew an analyst report this year — research piles on a short list
In our archive of 6,372 single-stock broker reports in 2026, 939 of 2,819 listed companies drew at least one. The busiest name drew 100; most drew none. It measures attention, not coverage, and is not advice.
Women hold about 7% of Korean listed-company board seats, and more than half of firms have none
Across 35,004 officers at Korea's listed companies, 7.2% are women. It splits by sector — 10.5% in health care, 4.2% in tech — and 56% of companies disclose no woman officer at all.
In Korea, the brokers that promise the most upside hit their targets the least
Score 19,495 broker targets against the stock a year on and a pattern appears: the more upside a house promised, the less often it was reached — a −0.46 correlation. Hanwha aimed for 45% and hit 17%; DB aimed 29% and hit 49%.
Korean brokers say Buy on four reports in five, and almost never say Sell
Across 6,372 broker reports in 2026 the market rated Buy on 79.7% and Sell on 0.06%. Of 13 houses that rated 200-plus reports, 10 issued no Sell at all. The Sell rate has sat near zero for over a decade.
In every Korean sector, the biggest companies pay more and keep people longer
Split each sector into its market-cap leaders and the rest: the leaders pay 1.2 to 1.43 times more and mostly retain staff longer. But in heavy industry and finance they employ fewer women at the top. A size split, not a stock pick.
In Korea, finance pays about twice what tech does — and tech isn't even second
Take the median listed company's average pay in each sector. Finance sits at 116 million won a year, roughly double information technology's 58 million. IT holds half the market's value and pays in the middle of the pack.
The Korean sectors that keep their workers longest employ the fewest women
Line up Korea's main listed sectors by how long people stay and by how many are women, and the two run opposite: a −0.68 correlation. Materials keeps people 8.6 years and is 13% women; health care keeps them 4.9 and is 40%.
How long each Korean industry keeps the people it hires, from 16 years down to under four
Listed companies file their workers' average tenure in their own annual reports. Weight it by headcount and rank Korea's 44 biggest industries: carmakers hold people 16 years, research firms under four.
How much of a Korean company's life does its average worker see? At most two-fifths of it
Long tenure and old firms go together at 0.66 — the tenure ladder is partly an age ladder. Measured against firm age, no sector's workers have stayed even half the company's life; research looks churny only because its firms are young.
In Korea, the industries that hold their workers longest are mostly the ones that pay them most
Rank 44 listed industries by how long they keep people and by what they pay, and the two line up at 0.67. Long-tenure sectors pay 1.7 times the high-churn ones — but retail keeps people cheaply, and research pays for talent it cannot keep.
Korean brokerages' price targets are met about one time in five
Score every target against the stock twelve months later. Across 19,495 rated reports, 21.6% of price targets were reached. Brokers promised 38% upside on average; the shares delivered 10%.
The Korean sectors that employ women, and the ones that barely do
Sort every listed company by our sector scheme and take the median female share. Health care is 40% women and finance 35%; heavy industry, materials and utilities sit near 11 to 14%. The gap is roughly four to one.
Shinhan's longest fractional-share list is mostly unbuyable
Shinhan posts Korea's longest fractional-share list, 2,450 stocks. But 2,022 of those are marked sell-only; only 428 can be bought. Line up all eight brokers and just 46 stocks are fraction-buyable everywhere.
Market value per employee ranges 3,100-fold across Korean firms. Almost all of it is an artifact.
Divide a company's market cap by its staff and the spread is absurd — 3,100 times. Remove the holding companies and pre-revenue biotech, and what survives is a 17-fold gap between industries: capital intensity, not what anyone produced.
Korea's convertibles create new shares at a 24% discount. Cash raises, 12%.
Measured against the market price on the day the shares are created, convertibles dilute at a 23.8% discount and cash raises at 12.5%. Control for the 456 companies that used both and the convertible still discounts 7.7 points deeper.
One in three Korean listed companies files its headcount in pieces. Forty-two add it up.
The employee table in a Korean annual report carries no required total. Read only the first row — as we did until yesterday — and 482,227 people disappear from a sample of 853,817.
Korean firms with more women underperformed by 17 points last year. Control for industry and the gap vanishes.
Across 2,573 listed companies, staff tenure and female share both look like they predict returns — in opposite directions. They are the same fact counted twice. One survives an industry control; the other does not.
Korean analysts didn't just stop saying sell. They stopped saying hold.
Across 55,580 rated broker reports since 2014, the neutral rating has fallen from 9.7% to 3.3% of all calls. The collapse happened in two steps, in 2018 and 2020, and it shows up inside individual firms — not just in the market average.
A Korean ETF above its stated value falls back tomorrow — unless it holds Asian stocks, in which case it rises
Across 605,072 fund-days, a premium on a domestic or US-tracking ETF predicts a 0.48-point underperformance tomorrow. On an Asia-tracking synthetic fund it predicts a 0.32-point gain. Same number, opposite meaning.
Four of Korea's ten best-paying listed companies employ fewer than 200 people
Every listed company files its average pay per employee. Read the ranking without checking headcount and you will misread what it measures — four of the top ten are head offices, not workforces.
In 76 percent of Korea's large listed companies, men stay longer than women
Companies file average tenure by gender in their own annual reports. Across 1,836 listed firms employing 1.81 million people, the weighted gap is 2.11 years — and it is widest in the industries Korea exports.
KOSPI fell 31% from its peak. It is still up 48% this year.
Korea's benchmark peaked at 9,114.55 on 22 June and closed at 6,257.45 on 3 August — down 31.3% in six weeks. But it ended 2025 at 4,214.17, so even after the drop it is up 48.5% year-to-date. Both are true at once. Not advice.
Korean banks are up 6% since the KOSPI peaked. The index is down 31% because it is 60% semiconductors.
Of 160 tradeable Korea Exchange indices, twelve have risen since 22 June. Electronics is 60.1% of KOSPI market capitalisation, fell 38.7%, and dragged the benchmark with it. Banks, pharma and staples never joined the fall.
Korean brokerages posted 26,051 stock reports in three years. Twenty-six said sell.
A complete census of every company report published to Korea's most-read retail research board finds sell ratings at 0.114 percent — one for every 838 buys. Thirteen of the twenty firms never issued a single one.