South Korea's $1 trillion pension fund achieves historic best returns with KOSPI soaring

As one of the world's largest public pension funds, the South Korean National Pension Service achieved its strongest annual returns in history in 2025, boosted by the surge in the stock market driven by semiconductors and artificial intelligence. According to the announcement released on Friday, as of the end of 2025, the fund's management size reached 145.8 trillion Korean won, with a full-year return of 18.82%, marking a record high for the third consecutive year. This performance exceeded the previous year's historical high of 15% and also represented the best performance since the fund was established in 1988. The domestic stock portfolio of the South Korean National Pension Service led with a 82.44% increase, while the overseas stock return was 19.74%. So far this year, the South Korean benchmark stock index KOSPI has accumulated a growth of over 45%, surpassing 6000 points, exceeding the target of 5000 points set by President Lee Jae-myung during his election campaign. The index rose by over 75% last year, ranking among the best performing stock indices globally.