Overview
- The Bank of Korea publicly announced the plan on Monday and has set up partnerships with LS MnM, the Korea Exchange (KRX) and the Korea Securities Depository (KSD), with Korea Zinc expected to supply eligible metal.
- The program is conditional and phased, with the central bank saying it will only make physical purchases after the KSD completes secure storage infrastructure and producers submit available volumes and timing.
- Any first transactions will be negotiated over‑the‑counter block trades on the KRX to limit effects on public orders and domestic prices, and purchases would be paid in won to lower dollar exposure.
- Near‑term scale is expected to be modest because only about 4–5 tonnes of South Korea’s annual 40–45 tonnes of gold output is typically exported and therefore immediately available for purchase.
- The move follows the BOK’s small Q2 buys of gold ETFs and matches a wider trend of central banks increasing bullion holdings, though the bank says it will raise gold shares gradually for medium‑ to long‑term reserve diversification.