# SeoulMarkets — Korean financial & economic data, in English

> SeoulMarkets (seoulmarkets.com) publishes reproducible, source-cited data journalism on Korea's economy and markets, in English. Every figure is computed from a named public source (KOSIS, Korea Customs, Bank of Korea) and is reproducible. We report distributions and counts, not advice; we state plainly what we could not measure. Free to cite with attribution and a link back.

Every article below also has a plain-markdown version at the same path with .md
appended (e.g. https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-top-pay-firms-gender-gap.md) —
tables, sources, and verification notes included, without the page chrome.

## Data & datasets
- [Data hub](https://seoulmarkets.com/data): datasets and the open data API for Korean market and economic figures.
- [Korea trade dataset](https://seoulmarkets.com/data/korea-trade-dataset): 243 partner countries × 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07) of exports, imports and trade balance, in English, one clean CSV — sourced from Korea Customs, free to keep.
- [Sector leaders](https://seoulmarkets.com/data/sector-leaders): split 9 sectors into market-cap leaders (top fifth) vs the rest — leaders pay 1.2x to 1.43x more, and in most sectors keep staff longer too. Not a stock pick.
- [Analyst attention](https://seoulmarkets.com/data/analyst-attention): 6,372 single-stock broker reports, 20 brokerages, 2026. 939 of 2,819 listed companies drew at least one; the busiest name drew 100, the median covered company just 2.
- [Target-price accuracy](https://seoulmarkets.com/data/target-price-accuracy): 19,499 rated broker reports joined to the share price 12 months later — hit rate by house, the number brokers never publish about themselves.
- [Broker candour](https://seoulmarkets.com/data/broker-candour): rating distribution (Buy/Hold/Sell) by brokerage house — Sell ratings have nearly vanished from Korean broker research. Not investment advice.

## Labour & wages (Statistics Korea establishment survey, annual, reproducible)
- [Real wages went flat after 2021](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-real-wages-flat-since-2021): real monthly wage rose ~24% 2011–2021, then +0.2% to 2025.
- [Working hours fell 13% since 2011](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-working-hours-fell-since-2011): average monthly hours per worker 176.6 (2011) to 153.8 (2025).
- [Overtime fell ~30% since 2011](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-overtime-fell-since-2011): regular-worker overtime 11.5 hours/month (2011) to 8.1 (2025).
- [Bonuses are an eighth of Korean pay](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-bonus-share-of-pay): special payments are 12–15% of yearly pay and cluster in December/January.
- [Youth unemployment fell since 2016](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-youth-unemployment-fell-since-2016): the 15–29 rate peaked at 9.8% (2016) and fell to 6.1% (2025), about twice the national rate.
- [Bigger firms pay more at every step](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-bigger-firms-pay-more-every-step): pay rises with firm size at each size band.
- [Fewer days, not shorter days](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-fewer-days-not-shorter-days): monthly work fell 13% since 2011, mostly fewer days (21.2 to 19.1); hours per day barely moved (8.33 to 8.05).
- [Temp workers earn 39% of regular staff](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-temp-workers-pay-gap): temporary/daily monthly pay is ~40% of regular pay (1.74m vs 4.47m won in 2025), roughly unchanged since 2011.
- [Women's workforce share by sector](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-female-workforce-share-by-sector): median female share of listed-firm staff is 24%; about 57% in apparel, under 10% in steel/autos/construction.

## Trade (Korea Customs, shares and ranks)
- [Korea trade, partner by partner](https://seoulmarkets.com/trade): Korea's trade with 60 partner countries, shares and ranks.
- [Korea sells to and buys from different countries](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-sells-and-buys-different-countries): export vs import maps diverge — Hong Kong 6.7% of exports but 0.6% of imports; Japan 7.5% of imports but 3.5% of exports.

## Commodities & prices (Bank of Korea import price index, reproducible)
- [Which imports jumped, which fell](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-import-prices-which-goods-jumped): the 18.4% won-basis average hides a huge spread — synthetic rubber +96% and fuels ~+77%, while sugar and dairy fell; the won sets the level, the spread is the goods.

## Debate — rankings, and whether they mean anything (cited third-party rank + our data critique)
- [The debate series](https://seoulmarkets.com/tag/debate): all our ranking-and-measure debates in one place — each cites a ranking or headline number, then questions what it actually measures. Readers can weigh in; comments use no cookies, IP, or login.
- [Korea's rich list doesn't measure Lee Jae-yong. It measures KOSPI.](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-stock-wealth-ranking-paper-fortune): we cite the Korea CXO Institute stock-wealth ranking (Lee Jae-yong ₩25.88tn, +117%) and question the measure — mark-to-market paper wealth that swings with the KOSPI, not income or productivity.
- ["Biggest company" measures hope, not output](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-market-cap-is-not-productivity): the default ranking of Korea's largest firms is by market capitalization — a priced bet on the future, not output, employment, or profit. We recompute no figure; we question why a mark-to-market bet is treated as a scoreboard of worth. Capital intensity, not productivity.
- [The pay ranking everyone shares hides three things](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-pay-ranking-hides-the-distribution): a best-employer pay ranking is one average per company — which buries the distribution (pay rises at every size step), the contract gap (temporary staff earn ~39% of regular pay), and the hours (monthly pay is not pay-per-hour). We report distributions, not averages.
- [Meritz Securities: top pay, 2.18x gender gap](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-top-pay-firms-gender-gap): CEOScore's 2 Sep 2026 ranking of Korean firms with H1 2026 average pay above ₩100m (Korea Investment Holdings ₩184.0m, SK hynix ₩144.0m) reproduced from DART filings within ~1% — then split by gender. Every reproducible firm shows a gap, 1.31x (NH Investment & Securities) to 2.18x (Meritz Securities).
- [Korea's biggest trade partner isn't its most vital](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-biggest-trade-partner-not-most-vital): a trade rank measures volume, not dependence — and Korea's export map and import map diverge (Hong Kong ~6.7% of exports but ~0.6% of imports; Japan ~7.5% of imports but ~3.5% of exports). Shares and ranks only, never absolute dollars.
- [The stock rating that has no downside](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-stock-rating-with-no-downside): across 55,580 rated Korean broker reports since 2014, hold fell from 9.7% to 3.3% and there were only 89 sell calls in twelve years. When a rating scale never says sell, what does a 'buy' tell you? We count the distribution and question the scale.
- [Women's workforce share: firm choice or sector mix?](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-women-share-firm-or-sector): ranking firms by female workforce share largely re-ranks sectors — apparel ~57%, steel/autos/construction under 10%, median firm ~24%, board seats ~7%. We show the spread by sector and question whether the rank measures the employer or the industry.
- [183,351 funds isn't 183,351 choices](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-many-funds-few-choices): Korea's registry holds 183,351 funds, but equity funds are about one in ten, new launches have roughly halved since 2020 (5,990 to ~2,698), and country themes cluster (America outnumbers China ~2:1). A big count is not a wide menu — we report the composition, not the total.
- [Youth joblessness fell — good news, or fewer looking?](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-youth-rate-two-meanings): Korea's youth jobless rate fell from 9.8% (2016) to 6.1% (2025), ~2.18x the national rate. But an unemployment rate falls both when the jobless find work and when they stop looking and leave the labour force. One rate cannot separate the two; we report it and name what it hides.
- [Overtime fell 30% — less strain, or less pay?](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-overtime-fell-strain-or-pay): Korean regular-worker overtime fell from 11.5 hours a month (2011) to 8.1 (2025). Overtime is both a time burden and premium pay, so fewer hours mean a lighter load for some and lost income for others — the hours series measures the time, not the pay. We report the hours and name what they cannot carry.
- [Celltrion filed Korea's biggest buyback this week — and won't cancel a share](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-celltrion-biggest-buyback-no-cancellation): nine Korean listed companies filed DART buyback plans, 25 Aug–1 Sep 2026, ranked ₩100.0bn (Celltrion) down to ₩0.70bn (Cas). Only three commit to cancellation — Chinyang Polyurethane, Chinyang Chemical, Ghost Studio — all far smaller than Celltrion's plan. Size of filing does not predict commitment to cancel.
- [Samsung Biologics raised 300x more than PhionX, diluted 11x less](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-samsung-biologics-rights-issue-dilution): 21 Korean rights-issue filings, 25 Aug–1 Sep 2026, ranked ₩3.00tn (Samsung Biologics, 4.7% dilution) down to ₩4.7bn (Logis Mon). PhionX raised ₩10.0bn — 300x less — at 53.8% dilution, 11x more. Issuance method (rights offering vs third-party allotment) tracks dilution more than size does.
- [KG Mobility's convertible bond dilutes shares 22%](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-kg-mobility-convertible-bond-dilution): five Korean convertible-bond filings, 25 Aug–1 Sep 2026, all carry 0.0% surface interest — the conversion option is the entire return. Dilution (DART's own figure) ranges 1.02% (Sungho Electronics) to 21.96% (KG Mobility, also the largest raise) and does not rank with the amount raised.
- [From Celltrion to KG Mobility, one flaw repeats](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-capital-raising-size-does-not-predict-outcome): a synthesis of this week's three DART rankings (buybacks, rights issues, convertible bonds, 35 filers) — in every one, the size of the deal does not predict the shareholder-facing outcome (cancellation, dilution), and the direction isn't even consistent across instruments.

## Markets & disclosure (counts and distributions, reproducible — not prices, not advice)
- [Korean analysts stopped saying hold](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-analysts-stopped-saying-hold): across 55,580 rated broker reports since 2014, the neutral (hold) rating fell from 9.7% to 3.3%; only 89 sell calls in twelve years.
- [Four names are half of everything](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-everything-comes-down-to-four): rank Korea's stocks or its trade partners and the top four are about half every time; every concentration Gini sits above 0.9 (shares and ranks only).
- [Company headcount filings carry no total](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-headcount-disclosure-has-no-total-row): one in three listed firms files its employee count in pieces with no total row; reading only the first row drops 482,227 of 853,817 workers — a mistake we made and corrected.

## Reference
- [How many companies are listed in Korea](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-largest-listed-companies): counts of Korea's listed companies and the largest by market value.

## Notes for citation
- Figures are reproducible from the named source and API table IDs given on each page.
- We use shares, ranks, and full-year averages; single-month figures are labelled as noisy where relevant.
- Market capitalization is described as capital intensity, not productivity.

## Redistribution & inequality (KOSIS income distribution, reproducible — market vs disposable)
- [Taxes and transfers nearly halve Korea's income gap](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-redistribution-market-vs-disposable): we pulled KOSIS DT_1HDALF05 ourselves and compute both market and disposable income inequality. 2024: income quintile ratio 11.19 (market) vs 5.78 (disposable); gini 0.399 vs 0.325; relative poverty 20.9% vs 15.3%. Market inequality is flat since 2017; the redistribution wedge does the narrowing. Quoting one number misleads.

## Small-business sentiment (SEMAS BSI via KOSIS, reproducible — hope vs reality)
- [Korea's small merchants haven't felt neutral in years](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-small-merchants-never-neutral): a survey put September small-merchant sentiment at a year-high 95.1 (traditional markets 105.0). But 95.1 is an expectation and still below the neutral 100. On the reproducible KOSIS series (overall conditions), over 36 months expected BSI averaged 80 and felt BSI averaged 63.3 (a ~17pt gap) and neither crossed 100 once. Latest felt reading: 55.6 (July 2026).

## Pension performance (NPS official disclosure, labels kept — not a market return)
- [What Korea's pension's 107% return really measures](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-pension-107-percent-read-the-label): NPS reports H1 2026 money-weighted, provisional returns — domestic equity 107.37%, overseas equity 17.81%, domestic bonds -3.00%, overseas bonds 9.22%, alternatives 9.60%; whole fund 27.22%; assets 1,865.6tn won. Money-weighted ≠ the market's move, so 107% is not a claim that Korean stocks doubled. We keep the fund's own labels.
- [Not one Korean region's merchants expect improvement](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-no-region-merchants-expect-better): the latest regional small-merchant expectation BSI runs 64.5 (Daejeon) to 80.6 (South Jeolla) — all 17 provinces below the neutral 100, with big cities (Seoul 65.7) near the bottom. The just-released national 95.1 is one month newer and not yet split by region. A map of expectations, not places.

## More Equities
- [Goldman's KOSPI upside went from 80% to 71.5%](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-goldman-kospi-upside-80-to-71): Goldman Sachs kept its 12,000 KOSPI target unchanged on 7 September. The 'upside' headline still moved, from about 80% to 71.6%, because two same-day reports measured it against KOSPI closes one 4.61% trading session apart.
- [A stock forecaster's low-end misses keep growing](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-stock-forecaster-low-end-misses-growing): A Korean outlet scores its own weekly KOSPI high/low price forecasts against what happened. Three straight weeks: high-forecast error held near 3%, low-forecast error nearly tripled — 2.89%, 6.61%, 8.10%.
- [KEPCO confirms ₩25tn power-prepay ask, terms unset](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-kepco-samsung-sk-hynix-power-prepay): Korean outlets reported KEPCO asked Samsung Electronics (₩20tn) and SK Hynix (₩5tn) to prepay five years of power bills. KEPCO confirmed only that a proposal exists — the amount, rate and timeline are still unset.
- [Samsung Life's rumor answer: not confirmed, not denied](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-samsung-life-insurer-rumor-not-confirmed): 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, with a re-filing deadline of October 2. Not advice.
- [KOSPI hit 6,835.8, then fell 4% next day](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-kospi-swing-after-viral-close): 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%.
- [How many companies are listed in Korea? Fewer than quoted](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/how-many-companies-listed-korea): 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.
- [The better a Korean company pays, the wider its gender gap](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-better-paying-firms-wider-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](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-ceo-outlasts-the-workforce): 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](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-ceo-tenure-eleven-year-median): 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.
- [Korea's convertibles create new shares at a 24% discount. Cash raises, 12%.](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-convertible-dilution-discount): 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.
- [Cube Entertainment's co-CEO put ₩10bn into his own company — above market](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-cube-entertainment-ceo-private-placement-premium): 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](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-ecopro-bm-rights-issue-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.
- [A Korean ETF above its stated value falls back tomorrow — unless it holds Asian stocks, in which case it rises](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-etf-premium-means-two-different-things): 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.
- [Five Korean firms filed share buybacks today. Only one is cancelling the shares.](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-five-buybacks-one-cancellation): 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.
- [Four stocks are half of Korea's entire stock market](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-four-stocks-half-the-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.
- [Only 46 stocks are fraction-buyable at all 8 Korean brokers](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-fractional-shares-broker-lottery): Each broker posts its own fractional-share list. Line up all eight and just 46 stocks overlap; 1,202 of 2,586 can't be bought in fractions anywhere.
- [Across Korea's listed companies, women's average pay is 73% of men's](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-gender-pay-ratio-seventy-three): 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.
- [How long each Korean industry keeps the people it hires, from 16 years down to under four](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-how-long-industries-keep-workers): 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.
- [KOSDAQ is 7% of the market's value but 16% of its trading](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-kosdaq-trades-above-its-weight): 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.
- [Seventy-seven companies hold half of Korea's listed-market jobs](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-listed-jobs-seventy-seven-companies): 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.
- [JYP's 6.75% treasury stock hasn't moved since 2018 — traced to its 2013 listing](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-jyp-treasury-stock-since-2018-backdoor-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](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-listed-kpop-agencies-hybe-two-thirds): 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.
- [HYBE's operating profit was ₩49bn. One expense line was ₩295bn.](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-hybe-operating-profit-one-expense-line): HYBE's FY2025 revenue beat Korea's other three listed K-pop majors combined, but it posted the only net loss among them, ₩254.4bn. The swing traces almost entirely to one filed line, six times the size of operating profit, that is never itemised.
- [Korea's listed market spreads across 61 industries by count, but its value sits in one](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-listed-market-broad-by-count-narrow-by-value): 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.
- [Four of Korea's ten best-paying listed companies employ fewer than 200 people](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-listed-pay-holding-company-trap): 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.
- [Samsung SDI's US battery JV cut its guaranteed debt 45% — the same year it turned its first profit](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-samsung-sdi-starplus-guarantee-cut): 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.
- [Korea's margin debt hit a record. It moved to KOSPI.](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-margin-debt-record-moved-to-kospi): Korea's exchange-wide margin loan balance hit ₩38.63 trillion on 24 June 2026, up 50% year-on-year. KOSDAQ's share of it fell from 47.8% in 2021 to 21.0% today — this year's leverage buildup moved into large-cap KOSPI, not the smaller, more speculative market.
- [One in twenty listed Korean stocks didn't trade a single share](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-market-barbell-silent-tail): 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.
- [Market value per employee ranges 3,100-fold across Korean firms. Almost all of it is an artifact.](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-market-cap-per-worker-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 market carries 20 times more value per worker in finance than in apparel](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-market-value-per-worker-finance-vs-labour): 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.
- [Most of Korea's listed companies are young; nine are older than the republic](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-oldest-listed-companies-banks-drugmakers): 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.
- [Only 12 of Korea's 160 stock indices are up since the June peak](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-rally-was-narrow-correction-is-broad): 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.
- [Korean firms with more women underperformed by 17 points last year. Control for industry and the gap vanishes.](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-tenure-and-returns-industry-mix): 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.
- [In 76 percent of Korea's large listed companies, men stay longer than women](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-tenure-gender-gap): 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.
- [How much of a Korean company's life does its average worker see? At most two-fifths of it](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-tenure-is-partly-company-age): 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](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-tenure-tracks-pay): 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.
- [Hiring more women does not narrow Korea's gender pay gap](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-women-share-does-not-close-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](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korean-analyst-attention-few-names): 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](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korean-board-women-seven-percent): 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.
- [Korean brokerages' price targets are met about one time in five](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korean-broker-price-targets-one-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%.
- [In Korea, the brokers that promise the most upside hit their targets the least](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korean-brokers-aim-high-hit-less): 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](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korean-brokers-the-vanishing-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](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korean-sector-leaders-pay-more): 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](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korean-sector-pay-workforce): 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 employ women, and the ones that barely do](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korean-sectors-female-workforce): 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.
- [The Korean sectors that keep their workers longest employ the fewest women](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korean-sectors-tenure-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%.
- [KOSPI volatility exploded: 53 days above 3% this year](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/kospi-2026-volatility-regime): Korea's benchmark has had 53 days of 3%+ moves in 2026 — the five years before it managed 20. The average daily move has tripled. Not advice.
- [Korean banks are up 6% since the KOSPI peaked. The index is down 31% because it is 60% semiconductors.](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/kospi-is-a-semiconductor-index): 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.](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/twenty-six-sell-ratings): 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.

## More Macro
- [Korea's exports show no sign of US-tariff rerouting](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-exports-no-us-tariff-rerouting-signal): A popular worry is exporters rerouting around US tariffs via Vietnam or Mexico. Korea's own customs data shows the opposite over the past year: US export share rose 2.6 points; Vietnam and Mexico's shares both fell.
- [Korea's August exports: 68.7% jump, confirmed](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-august-exports-record-streak-verified): A post shared on r/korea said Korea's August exports jumped 68.7% to $98.25bn. That matches the Korea Customs Service's own release exactly — and it's the 15th straight month of a record August-equivalent high.
- [28,244 falls: Korea's top workplace injury in 2024](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-workplace-falls-top-injury-cause): Korea's Ministry of Employment and Labor tracks every reported workplace injury by cause. In 2024, simple falls and slips — not machinery, not falls from height — injured more workers than anything else. A second cause is catching up fast.
- [Korea's listed firms: median tenure is 6.2 years](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-tenure-census-median-six-years): A census of 2,839 Korean listed companies' own annual filings: the median company's staff has stayed 6.2 years on average. 1 in 8 companies average under 3 years — and a smaller 1 in 17 average 15 years or more.
- [96% of Korean firms pay men more](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-gender-pay-gap-census): A census of 2,282 Korean listed companies' own half-year filings: the median company pays men 35.9% more than women. 96.0% pay men more by 5% or more. Only 1.4% pay women more.
- [Korea CPI: mobile fee jumped 26.7%, rest flat](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-cpi-mobile-fee-base-effect): Korea's August CPI rose 3.09% year-on-year. We pulled the underlying KOSIS index and found the 'telecom base effect' two papers described sits almost entirely in one line item: the mobile phone fee index, up 26.74% — while landline and internet fees barely moved.
- [Korea's ₩107tn offshore filings: mostly new filers](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-offshore-filings-more-filers-not-richer): NTS reported ₩107.1tn in offshore assets, up 13.3% — but filer count rose 9.1% and the average filer's holding grew only 3.9%. Most of the headline growth is more filers, not richer ones.
- [Korea's 2026 trade surplus 'tripled.' We don't buy it.](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-2026-trade-surplus-data-artifact): Korea's trade surplus seems to jump 5x in a year. But exports step up 29% in one month while every partner keeps its share — a measurement break, not a boom.
- [Working for a Korean company pays a quarter more than working for an owner](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-company-vs-owner-wage): The national pension bills every employer 9% of pay. Incorporated firms are billed 370,340 won per worker, sole proprietorships 280,520 — the 882,490 Koreans working for an individual owner sit a quarter below the 10.7 million at companies.
- [Korea publishes two housing numbers. They routinely disagree, and both are right.](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-housing-two-numbers-that-disagree): Transaction records say what actually sold. The official index says which way the market moved. In a thin market these diverge — and the gap is the story, not an error in either.
- [In one Korean province, workers leave the payroll fastest — and it pays the least.](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-job-separation-map-jeju-churns): Each month a share of enrolled workers drops out of workplace pension coverage. On the tourism island of Jeju it is 4.28%; in research-heavy Daejeon, 3.12%. Across regions, higher pay and lower churn move together.
- [Korea's leading indicator has climbed for a year. Its coincident gauge has barely moved.](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-leading-index-climbs-coincident-flat): Statistics Korea's leading cyclical index rose every month for a year, 100.0 to 105.7, yearly growth doubling to 8.8%. The coincident gauge — the here-and-now — sat flat near 100. The forward signal is loud, the present quiet. Not advice.
- [Korea's listed companies cluster in the capital even harder than its workers do](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-listed-headquarters-capital-region): Of 2,364 listed companies that give a location, 85.7% are headquartered in the capital region — Seoul alone holds 46.4%. That is well above the 61.2% of enrolled workers there. The head offices concentrate more than the jobs. Not advice.
- [The older an industry's firms, the fewer workers it loses. In Korea the link is strong.](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-older-industries-churn-less): Across 105 industries, average firm age and monthly separation rate move inversely, with a correlation of -0.61. Banks are old and stable; construction is young and churns. Stability, it turns out, has an age.
- [Korea's oldest workplaces are its banks. Its youngest are building sites and coffee shops.](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-oldest-workplaces-banks-youngest-building-sites): Measured by years enrolled in the pension system, domestic banks average 33 and credit unions 32. Earthmoving and electrical-wiring contractors average barely two. An industry's age maps how it is built.
- [Korea's pension bill sorts 11.6 million workers into a pay ladder. Top to bottom, 2.3 times.](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-pension-bill-pay-ladder): Every employer is billed 9% of a worker's pay for the national pension, up to a ceiling. Rank Korea's 41 biggest industries by that bill per head and imaging-equipment plants sit 2.3 times above employment agencies.
- [Korea's pay map doesn't put Seoul on top. A shipbuilding city does.](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-pension-map-ulsan-tops-seoul): Averaged across every enrolled workplace, the national-pension bill is highest in Ulsan, not the capital. Top to bottom, the regional spread is just 1.21x — the smallest of the axes that move Korean pay.
- [Korea's producer prices rose 7.7% — its chip prices tripled](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-producer-prices-chips-tripled): The headline producer price index barely moved. Underneath, chip prices rose 315% and memory 291% in a year while forest and vegetable prices fell 20-35%. The 7.7% average hides a violent split. Not advice.
- [Korea's companies cluster in Seoul, but Seoul is where their staff leave fastest](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-seoul-companies-lose-staff-fastest): Head offices pile into the capital, yet the capital keeps people least. Median tenure runs about 6 years in Seoul and Gyeonggi but past 9 in Gwangju, Busan and Ulsan. The further from Seoul, the longer people stay. Not advice.
- [Korea's smallest firms lose workers 1.6x as fast as its largest. The pay ladder runs the other way.](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-small-firms-churn-big-firms-hold): Each month, small workplaces shed 4.29% of their enrolled workers; the biggest shed 2.66%. Hiring falls with size too. The firm that pays the most also holds onto people the longest.
- [South Korea's biggest export and import partners: two giants, one supplier](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-trade-partners-two-giants-one-supplier): South Korea's biggest trading partners: its top export markets, the US and China, are nearly tied near 20% each, but its single biggest supplier is China alone — a quarter of all imports. Four partners are half the trade. Not advice.
- [Korea's trade surplus comes from a handful of partners — and drains to a different set](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-trade-surplus-four-partners-customs): Twelve months of customs data: Korea's goods surplus rests on the U.S., Hong Kong, Vietnam and Taiwan, and drains to where it buys energy and parts — Saudi Arabia, Japan, Australia. China, the biggest partner, nearly balances. Not advice.
- [Six in ten formally employed Koreans work in the capital region. It barely pays more.](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-workers-concentrate-in-seoul-pay-doesnt): The Seoul metro area holds 61.2% of enrolled workers on a footprint that pays a 1.21x premium at most — and less than that once the pension ceiling and Seoul's rents are taken into account. The pull isn't the paycheque.
- [Why the Korean market numbers you can legally read are always a day old](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/why-korean-market-data-arrives-a-day-late): The data this site publishes settles on a one-business-day lag — not by editorial choice but because that is what the redistributable sources release. One exception changes what is possible.
- [China's Korea-bound air traffic jumped 48% in two years](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-china-air-traffic-outpaces-flight-growth): Passengers arriving in Korea from China rose 47.7% from July 2024 to July 2026 while flights on that route rose only 21.4% — planes are fuller, not just more frequent. Middle East and Oceania arrivals both fell over the same year, roughly in step with fewer flights. Not advice.
- [Korea's air cargo grew 10% in two years. China and Japan grew 3x that](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-air-cargo-china-japan-outgrow-rest-of-asia): Freight arriving in Korea from China rose 23.8% and from Japan 28.3% between July 2024 and July 2026, while total air cargo grew only 10.0%. The catch-all "rest of Asia" bucket, still the largest single source, barely moved and lost share. Not advice.

## More Rates
- [Korea's 3-year/10-year bond spread stayed positive and widened a little over two weeks](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-bond-spread-two-weeks): Over nine trading days to 2026-08-21, the gap between Korea's 10-year and 3-year government bond yields ran 0.46 to 0.60 points, ending near 0.55 — never inverted. It widened from the long end: the 10-year rose, the 3-year held. Not advice.
- [Six bonds were 90% of a day's Korean bond trading](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-bond-trading-six-issues): Korea's listed bond market has a price on hundreds of issues but trades almost none of them. On 2026-08-21, six bonds were 90% of all trading value, and government benchmarks were 95%. It held that way every day we measured. Not advice.
- [Korea's bond curve, one day: 3.47% at a year, 4.64% at thirty — then it dips](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-government-bond-yield-curve): On 2026-09-04, Bank of Korea's own official reference yields ran from 3.47% at one year up to a peak of 4.64% at thirty years, then fell back to 4.54% at fifty — the only inversion on an otherwise-rising curve. Not advice.
- [Korea is quietly moving onto floating rates — and companies are moving fastest](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-loans-shift-to-floating): Over the year to June 2026 the fixed-rate share of won bank loans fell for every borrower: companies 39% to 31%, households 47% to 44%, mortgages 66% to 63%. More of the loan book now reprices when rates move. Not advice.
- [Every kind of Korean bank loan turned more variable this year. Companies moved fastest.](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-loans-turned-variable): The fixed-rate share of outstanding bank loans fell across corporates, households and mortgages over the year to June. Companies led it, dropping nearly eight points to 31%. Mortgages stayed the most fixed, at 63%.
- [Korea's provinces all borrow at the same price — the gaps are empty order books](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-provincial-bonds-price-identically): Seventeen regional governments issue near-identical bonds. In the vintages that actually trade, the widest gap between any two provinces is 3.2 basis points — narrower than the day-to-day swing inside a single province's own bond.

## More FX
- [The won just hit a 14-month high, two months after its worst point](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-won-14-month-high-two-months-after-peak): On 7 September the won closed at 1,355.2 to the dollar — its strongest since 2 July 2025. That is 12.8% stronger than the 1,554.4 it hit on 2 July 2026, almost exactly a year later. The whole year's move unwound in nine weeks.
- [China is Korea's biggest trading partner. Its yuan futures are 0.03% of the market.](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-currency-futures-one-contract): Across 629 trading days, 99.0% of Korean currency-futures turnover was one contract: the dollar. The exchange also lists 1,272 flexible-dated dollar futures that have never traded once.
- [The won, not the goods, drove much of Korea's imported inflation](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-import-prices-won-not-goods): Over the year to July 2026 Korea's import prices rose 18.4% in won but only 11.1% in contract currency. The 7-point gap is the exchange rate, not dearer goods. A March commodity spike lifted all gauges, then partly eased. Not advice.
- [Korea's trade balance, in one page: who it sells to, who it pays](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-trade-balance-in-one-page): Korea's trade in one page: it sells to two giants — the US and China, each about a fifth of exports — and buys energy and machines from everyone else.
- [Korea's ten biggest trade deficits are oil, gas, and machinery](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-trade-deficits-energy-and-machines): Rank Korea's biggest trade deficits and nine of the ten sell energy or machines. The tenth sells copper. Oil, gas, and machinery are the import bill.
- [China is Korea's biggest trade partner, but almost none of its surplus](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-trade-surplus-not-china): China is Korea's biggest partner both ways — and the two nearly cancel. Its balance is about 5% of the national surplus on a fifth of all trade. The surplus is earned from the US, Vietnam and Taiwan; the deficits are oil, gas and machinery.

## More Commodities
- [Korea's exchange-traded gold has fallen 31% since January, and the small-lot contract is busier than ever](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-exchange-gold-down-from-january-peak): Six and a half years of Korea Exchange gold prints: up 228% overall, up 60% in 2025, then down 30.9% from a peak set on 29 January. Turnover in the 100-gram contract is running 72% above last year through the whole decline.
- [Korea's import prices rose 9% in the seller's currency and 20% in won. The gap is the exchange rate.](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-import-prices-won-did-the-work): Priced in the currency each contract is written in, Korea's imports cost 9.1% more over the year to June. In won they cost 19.7% more. The 33-point gap between the two indices is not the goods getting dearer — it is the won getting weaker.
- [Diesel is draining off Korea's oil exchange — and the gap between its two order books isn't a spread](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-oil-exchange-diesel-decline-spread): Diesel traded on the KRX oil market fell 23% from 2020 to 2025 while petrol held. And the 'premium' on its negotiated book over its competitive one is a few tenths of a percent that flips sign four days in ten. Not advice.
- [Korea's oil exchange prints two prices for the same fuel, and they disagree four days in ten](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-oil-exchange-two-prices): The KRX oil market quotes two prices per fuel — a competitive-auction average and a negotiated one. Over six years they disagree: the negotiated runs below the auction on 37–46% of days, and the kerosene auction goes dark one day in six.
- [Korea's oil exchange traded half as much fuel in 2026, and its auction has gone quiet four days in five](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-oil-exchange-volume-collapse): Daily volume on KRX's diesel, petrol and kerosene markets has fallen sharply since April 2026 — down as much as 74% year-on-year for diesel — and the exchange's competitive auction increasingly prints no price at all.

## More Funds
- [Korea has 183,351 registered funds, and the factory that makes them is slowing down.](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/korea-fund-factory-slowing): New fund registrations peaked in 2020 near 6,000 a year and have roughly halved since. What Korea launches is mostly derivatives and bonds — equity funds are one in ten. Among funds that name a country, America outnumbers China two to one.
- [Who watches Korea's private fund managers? Less of the market than you would think](https://seoulmarkets.com/article/who-watches-korean-private-fund-managers): A licensed manager can run hundreds of billions of won, trade listed shares daily on its own account, and disclose none of it in a form the public can search. Here is exactly where the record stops.