How to Read Korean Company Filings: DART, KIND and English Disclosures

Since May 2026, every company on the KOSPI, Korea's main stock market, with at least 2 trillion won ($1.4 billion) in assets has had to publish its stock exchange filings in English. The Financial Services Commission (FSC), Korea's financial regulator, approved the rule on Jan. 28, 2026, and expected it to cover 265 companies. For foreign investors, the rule puts dividend decisions, earnings guidance and other major news into English on the day of the Korean filing or within three days.

Until then, only 111 large companies had to file in English. The dollar figure for the threshold is the Korea Herald's conversion.

Those filings sit in two systems. DART, run by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), holds the reports required by law, from annual reports to large-shareholding notices. KIND, run by the Korea Exchange (KRX), carries the filings that the exchange's own rules require.

The FSC explained the push in April 2023. "Although foreign shareholders make up a large part of Korean capital markets, inadequate provision of information in English has been identified as a problem," it said.

Here's what you need to know.

What Are DART and KIND, and How Do They Differ?

DART stands for Data Analysis, Retrieval and Transfer System. The FSS launched it in April 1999 and added an English site, englishdart.fss.or.kr, in February 2007.

Companies file their statutory reports there. English DART sorts them into groups such as periodic disclosure, reports on major issues, issuance disclosure for new securities, equity disclosure and external audit matters.

KIND stands for Korea Investor's Network for Disclosure. The KRX runs it at kind.krx.co.kr, with an English version at engkind.krx.co.kr, and says investors can reach it "from anywhere and at anytime."

KIND carries what exchange rules demand. That includes timely disclosure of material events, which KRX rules split into items due on the day they occur and items due the next day. It also includes fair disclosure and inquired disclosure, both explained below.

The two systems overlap. English DART also shows exchange filings, under a category labeled "Exchange Disclosure (Oversight of the Korea Exchange)," and tags them with notes such as "Transferred from Stock Market Division." Another note, "ENG," marks a filing that the site describes as "Submitted in English by KRX."

Simply put, DART gathers the regulator's reports and the exchange's filings in one place, while KIND is the exchange's own channel for the filings its rules require.

Which Companies Must File in English?

Korea is phasing in the English requirement in three stages, so far for KOSPI companies only. The counts in the table are the FSC's, and the first two are based on assets at the end of 2024.

The second stage also widened what must be translated. Until May 2026, covered companies filed English versions of "material information (26 key items)," the FSC said in November 2025. Under the January 2026 rules, the requirement now covers "all disclosure items required by KRX rules, including material information in its entirety (55 items), fair disclosure, and inquired disclosure."

In practice, that means English filings on dividends, rights offerings, treasury share cancellations and other major events, the Korea Herald reported in November 2025.

Deadlines depend on size. Companies with assets of at least five times the 2 trillion won threshold must, in principle, file the English version on the same day as the Korean one. Companies newly brought in by the second stage have three days from the Korean filing.

The KRX is also helping companies translate. The FSC said the exchange would launch an AI-based machine translation service on KIND from Dec. 18, 2023, built with NAVER Cloud's Papago, to help listed firms translate their filings. In January 2026, the FSC said the KRX would expand that help, publish a glossary and add training.

KOSDAQ, Korea's other main stock market, is not covered yet. In November 2025, the FSC said it would "consider introducing the mandatory English disclosure requirement to large KOSDAQ-listed companies."

Which Korean Company Filings Matter Most?

A foreign shareholder will meet the same filing types again and again. The names in bold follow the English labels and titles used on English DART.

• Annual Report: The fullest document, called the business report in Korean rules, is due within 90 days after the business year ends. It covers the company's business, officer compensation and finances, according to the KRX. From March 2026, it also carries shareholder-meeting voting results by agenda item, which companies must first post on the day of the meeting.
• Semi-Annual Report and Quarterly Report: These shorter updates are each due within 45 days after the period ends. The quarterly reports cover the first three months and the first nine months of the business year.
• Fair Disclosure: Forecasts and provisional results come through this channel. Under KRX rules, a company that wants to share such information with securities firms or other selected recipients must publish it first. Provisional results appear under titles such as "Report on Business Performance according to Consolidated Financial Statements (Fair Disclosure)."
• Report on Major Issues: Decisions that can dilute existing shareholders, such as a "Decision on Paid-In Capital Increase" or a "Decision on Issuance of Convertible Bonds," are filed under this heading.
• Dividend decisions: "Decision on Cash Dividends and Dividends in Kind" announces a payout, and "Decision on Closure of Shareholder's Registry(Including Record Date) for Dividends" sets the record date that decides who is paid. Under a change the FSC announced in January 2023, companies that amend their articles of incorporation can fix the dividend before the record date. The aim, the FSC said, is that "investors will be able to make investment decisions with the knowledge of dividend amounts." On Nov. 6, 2026, Meritz Financial Group filed both notices, each tagged "ENG."
• Treasury stock: Filings under "Acquisition/Disposal of Treasury Stock" track buybacks and sales of a company's own shares, and "Retirement of Stocks" reports shares being cancelled. On Feb. 25, 2026, the National Assembly passed a Commercial Act amendment that "requires companies to cancel their own shares within a year of acquiring them," Korea.net reported. Exceptions are allowed for a disposal plan approved at the shareholders' meeting, such as one for executive pay or an employee stock ownership plan.
• Report on Significant Holdings of Stocks, etc.: This is the report behind the so-called 5% rule. A stake of 5% or more, any later change of 1% or more and any change in the purpose of holding must be reported to the FSC and the KRX within five days, the FSC says. English DART lists "(General)" and "(Short form)" versions, and holders who do not aim to influence management can use a longer deadline and an abridged form, according to the FSC.
• Report on Status of Specific Securities, etc. Owned by Executives and Major Shareholders: This report shows what executives and major shareholders own. English DART lists it in the same tab as the 5% reports.
• Corporate value-up plan: Under FSC guidelines issued on May 2, 2024, a value-up plan sets out how a company intends to raise its corporate value, with goals recommended "in numerical terms." The plans are voluntary and are filed through KIND, ideally once a year and with an English version. By the end of August 2026, 756 companies had filed one, 354 on the KOSPI and 402 on KOSDAQ, according to KRX data reported by Financial News.
• Inquired disclosure: When rumors, media reports or sharp moves in price or volume raise questions, the KRX can ask a company to clarify. A rumor query made in the morning must be answered by that afternoon and one made in the afternoon by the next morning, while queries about trading get until the day after. Answers carry titles such as "An Explanation for Rumors or Media Reports : Undetermined."

How Do You Find a Company's Latest Filings?

English DART is a practical starting point, because it lists the regulator's reports and the exchange's English filings together. These steps use the site's own menu names.

1. Open the search. Go to englishdart.fss.or.kr and choose "Search by Company" under "Search Filings."
2. Pick the company. Fill in the "Company Name" field with the "Find company" button. English spellings vary, so check the match: the site lists names such as "SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO,.LTD" and "SKNetworksCompanyLimited."
3. Set the period. Use the "1 Week," "1 Month," "6 Months," "1 Year," "2 Years" or "All" buttons, or type dates as YYYYMMDD.
4. Sort by date. Choose "By Date Filed." Each row shows the company, the report, its market and the date it was filed.
5. Read the notes. "ENG" marks a filing "Submitted in English by KRX," and "U" means "Update Available." A title that starts with "[Correction of statement]" is a corrected version of an earlier filing.
6. Check the profile. Click the company's name to open its profile, which shows its "Company Code" and "Fiscal Month." For Samsung Electronics, they are 005930 and 12, which means its business year ends in December.

Keep that code next to the name. Because a code does not depend on how a name is spelled in English, it is the surest way to match an English page with a Korean one.

Market-wide feeds sit under "Latest Disclosure," with a tab for each market and a separate tab for 5% and executive reports. A date in parentheses in a title, as in "Consolidated Audit Report (2025.12)," gives the period covered, while the "Date Filed" column shows when the document arrived.

The 90-day and 45-day clocks start at the end of each company's own business year or quarter, so the "Fiscal Month" field tells you when the next report is due. Readers who still need a way to trade can start with our guide on how to buy Korean stocks from abroad.

What If a Filing Is Only in Korean?

Many filings still are. The English rule does not yet reach KOSDAQ companies or KOSPI companies below the asset threshold, and the FSS says English disclosures on its site carry "no legal effect."

English DART still helps you find your way. Since 2023, it has shown the company name, report title and attached file names in English as soon as a Korean filing is made, the Korea Herald reported in July 2023. Since February 2025, it has also shown the table of contents, tables and form labels of statutory filings in English, according to the Asia Business Daily.

That allows a simple routine. Use the English title and table of contents to find the section you need, translate only that part of the Korean text, and check the figures against the tables, whose labels are already in English.

Machine translation needs care. An FSS official said reading Korean-only text through AI translators could lead to misinterpretation, according to the Asia Business Daily. The FSS disclaimer on English DART also warns that English versions "may not correspond to the original disclosures in Korean due to mistranslation."

The same disclaimer gives advice that applies to every document on the site: "the user is advised to refer to the original filings in Korean for specific details." For a KOSPI company above the asset threshold, look first for the exchange's English version, tagged "ENG," before translating anything yourself.

Together, DART, KIND and the 2026 English rules let a foreign investor follow a large Korean company's dividends, share cancellations and earnings news in English, but the Korean filing remains the version that counts.