Anna Jiwon Park has been covering the politics at The Korea Times since the summer of 2024, when she joined the press pool for the Office of the President in Korea. Prior to that, she spent about five years reporting extensively on financial markets, regulatory authorities and the financial industry. She joined The Korea Times in 2019 after spending eight years as a broadcast journalist at Arirang TV, Korea’s leading global broadcaster, covering politics, defense and culture.
Korea's electronic disclosure system offers more information in English for foreign investors
The headquarters of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) in Seoul / Newsis
By Anna J. Park
By Anna J. Park
Korea's electronic disclosure system, or DART ― short for Data Analysis, Retrieval and Transfer System ― has expanded its English services for foreign investors, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) announced Sunday.
The move is part of the local financial authorities' policy direction set earlier this year to widen foreign investors' accessibility to the Korean capital market by gradually expanding disclosure information available in English.
From Monday, foreign investors without Korean language proficiency can log into the DART website and check corporations' latest disclosure status in English, including companies' disclosure report titles as well as attached files of reports. By identifying disclosure report titles in English, investors can then access files that they want and read them in English by using a built-in translating function on the DART system.
Previously, only disclosure reports voluntarily written in English by listed companies either at the KOSPI or Kosdaq markets and submitted to the DART system were available for foreign investors who cannot read Korean.
The enhanced system allows foreign investors to search disclosure information on a wider range of companies in English, including KONEX-listed companies and unlisted companies, in addition to the KOSPI- and Kosdaq-listed companies.
In addition, the financial data on the DART site will be available with a page viewer using eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL), a global software framework of accounting standards used for exchanging business information, from November this year, by when disclosure reports for the third quarter will be published. With the function, users can check various important information on corporations' financial statements with ease.
“With the newly innovated DART system, foreign investors will be able to check in real-time any changes made in a corporation's disclosure status, as soon as companies submit such reports. It is expected to contribute to resolving the so-called 'Korea discount' (by improving market accessibility to the Korean stock markets),” the FSS said.
“Investors can also conveniently access financial statements in English, which resolves information asymmetry by enabling international comparative analysis of financial information through the XBRL standard accounting system,” the FSS highlighted.
The FSS vows to continue to advance the country's electronic disclosure system in English. KIND, which is the English disclosure system operated by the Korea Exchange (KRX), is also slated to be accessed using the DART system through integration in the future.