Section
Rates
Korean government and corporate bonds, yields, and the policy rate.
Korea's 10-year bond yield is at its lowest in our record, and the gap over the 3-year has nearly halved
The benchmark 10-year treasury yield closed at 4.154% on 22 October, down 44.5 basis points from its 15 September high. The 3-year fell less, so the 10-year spread over it is 31.4bp, against 53.8bp in August.
Japan's highest-yielding government bond is the 25-year, not the 40-year — on 30 of 33 days since September
We have saved Japan's official yield curve every day since 1 September; the Ministry of Finance keeps only the current month. The curve tops out at 25 years, and since September the short end has risen while the long end fell.
Six Korean retail bonds showed yields between −424 percent and +35 percent in one day's data
Among 350 bonds in KRX's general and small-lot bond markets on September 17, six posted yields no real bond earns — a byproduct of trades as small as 10,000 won face value setting the day's quoted price.
Korea lists bonds on 3 boards — government, 270-346 general, 40 small-lot
Government paper trades on a board of 8 to 12 listings. Beside it sit 270 to 346 general listings and a near-fixed 40 small-lot listings retail buyers use. Over 22 sessions the gap ran 0.41 to 0.95 points.
Korea's bond curve, one day: 3.47% at a year, 4.64% at thirty — then it dips
On 2026-09-04, Bank of Korea's own reference yields ran from 3.47% at one year to a peak of 4.64% at thirty years, then fell back to 4.54% at fifty. The long end of Korea's curve is not a straight climb.
Korea's 3-year/10-year bond spread stayed positive and widened a little over 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
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 is quietly moving onto floating rates — and companies are moving fastest
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.
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
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.