Korean companies' English filings: questions and answers for investors

In one English filing, a 13-digit won amount lost a digit and read as about one-ninth of the Korean figure, and the English table's total no longer followed from its own lines. When Parity Vision matched 1,211 English filings that 29 large KOSPI companies filed themselves (January to October 2026) against their Korean originals on DART, 9 filings, about 0.7% of the filings, had 13 confirmed differences; most matched. A person checked every spot the program flagged as a differing figure or unit against both filings.

This is not a market-wide rate: the sample covers large KOSPI companies over ten months. Full results: How accurate are Korean companies' English filings? We checked 1,211.

Mostly a changed, missing or added digit in an amount or a share count. The 13 confirmed differences were one changed digit (6), a missing or added digit that makes an amount read about a ninth, a tenth or ten times its size (3), swapped digits (1), a changed year in a date (1), a unit label (1) and a column placement (1). Four of the 9 filings were treasury-share filings.

In our first sample of 235 disclosures, re-adding the English tables would have caught the four digit differences among the six without reading Korean; the unit label and the column placement needed the original.

At the largest companies, mostly on the same day; at mid-sized companies, often later. At 29 large KOSPI companies, 77.5% of 1,211 English filings (January to October 2026) arrived on the same day as the Korean original, and the same-day share rose from about 67% (January to April) to 86% (May to October) after the May 2026 same-day rule. At 150 KOSPI companies with consolidated assets of KRW 2 to 10 trillion at the end of 2025, 44.6% of 1,598 English filings (May to early November 2026) arrived the same day, and more than one in four came two or more business days later. These counts cover the companies' own English filings; English KIND also carries the Korea Exchange's translations of some Korean filings, which we did not count.

A delay here does not mean a filing was late under the rules: most of the largest companies had three business days until May 2026 and must file on the same day since then (by the next business day's morning for afternoon filings), most of the mid-sized companies have three business days, and we count dates, not times. Full study: How late, and how complete.

Since 1 May 2026, every KOSPI company with assets of KRW 2 trillion or more: 265 companies on end-2024 assets, up from 111 in the first phase. They must file English versions of their exchange disclosures, such as major management matters, fair disclosures and inquiry responses. Companies with assets of KRW 10 trillion or more and foreign ownership of 5% or more (average over the last three fiscal years), and companies with assets of KRW 2 to 10 trillion and foreign ownership of 30% or more, must file in English on the same day as the Korean filing (by the next business day's morning if the Korean filing is made in the afternoon; 3 business days for their subsidiaries' major matters). The others have 3 business days.

Sources: Financial Services Commission press releases 14 November 2025 and 28 January 2026; Korea Exchange KOSPI disclosure rules, enforcement detailed rules, Article 18-4 (KRX legal portal, checked 3 November 2026). A fuller Q&A in Korean: 영문공시 의무화 Q&A.

Start with the tables. Seven checks need no Korean: re-add the tables, read the unit, divide amount by shares, count digits, use corrected values, check dates, and tell percent from percentage points. When something does not add up, compare the table with the Korean original on DART row by row.

The full list: a checklist for investors.

Parity Vision does this. We compare the figures, units and dates in Korean and English disclosures one by one and mark each place we find they differ, with the page, table and item. Parity Engine, our own rule-based program, does the matching, and a person checks each flagged spot again. We do not judge the wording or quality of the English text, or whether the Korean figures themselves are correct.

The service is for companies' IR and disclosure teams and for the translation firms that prepare English filings. Email team@parityvision.com.