Pension Retail Investors Shift to Buy Korea as ETF Money Returns Home

On January 29, 2026, Hankyung reported that retirement-pension investors were turning toward Korean equity ETFs. Based on its analysis of Samsung Securities’ five-year ETF purchase rankings in DC and IRP accounts, the most-bought product by pension investors in 2025 was KODEX 200, an ETF tracking the Kospi 200. Purchases totaled 1.091 trillion won, a sharp rise from the annual 100 billion to 200 billion won range seen since 2021. Eight of the top 10 ETFs bought last year were Korea-focused products, including SOL Shipbuilding TOP3 Plus, ACE KRX Gold Spot, PLUS K-Defense and TIGER Shipbuilding TOP10. Hankyung said the 500 trillion won retirement-pension market could provide long-term support for Korean stocks and help improve pension returns. Source: hankyung.com