South Korea expands English disclosure system to boost foreign investment
South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has announced a major expansion of its English-language electronic disclosure system (DART) to improve accessibility for foreign investors.
From 10 February, foreign investors will gain improved real-time access to key financial disclosures in English.
Additionally, a brand-new open data platform will provide 83 types of disclosure data in English, making regulatory filings more accessible than ever.
Until now, while business reports and other legal disclosures were quickly available in English, full documents remained in Korean leaving non-Korean speakers reliant on not-always accurate translations. This latest upgrade fixes that by standardising key elements, such as tables of contents and structured data, directly in English. Search functionality has also been enhanced, allowing users to find reports more efficiently.
This is a strategic move to attract global investors and tackle the long-standing “Korea discount” — the undervaluation of Korean stocks due to transparency concerns. Crucially, the new system integrates XBRL-based data, ensuring disclosures are machine-readable, structured, and easily analysed. The addition of an API for real-time data transmission also brings South Korea in line with international best practices.
By offering all these improvements for free, South Korea is setting itself apart from other non-English-speaking markets, making its financial landscape far more inviting to foreign capital. An interesting, and smart step forward in digital disclosure!
For further details, see here.
