Korean Corporate Disclosure Guide
DART vs KIND: How to Find Korean Company Filings
Korean broker apps and data terminals may summarize a disclosure in English, but the authoritative document usually sits on a Korean public system. DART is the broader regulatory filing archive, while KIND is the Korea Exchange portal built around listed-company disclosures and market events. This guide explains both systems for an international investor who may not know the issuer’s Korean name, Korean accounting labels or filing conventions.
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The Short Answer for an International Investor
DART vs KIND at a Glance
| Question | DART | KIND |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Data Analysis, Retrieval and Transfer System | Korea Investor’s Network for Disclosure |
| Operator | Financial Supervisory Service (FSS; 금융감독원) | Korea Exchange (KRX; 한국거래소) |
| Core scope | Regulatory filings by listed companies and other entities subject to filing obligations | KRX-listed issuers, exchange disclosures, listing information and market measures |
| Best use | Primary-document research, financial reports, ownership filings, offering documents and history | Real-time listed-company monitoring and exchange-specific context |
| Financial results | Periodic reports, statements, notes, audit opinion and XBRL | Provisional results and fair disclosures, often closer to the initial market reaction |
| Market status | Some KRX disclosures are available through the integrated service | Trading suspensions, warning designations, listing reviews and other KRX measures are easier to find |
| Unlisted companies | Some unlisted companies appear if they are subject to applicable filing requirements | Not the primary archive for ordinary unlisted-company research |
| English access | English DART helps with orientation, but coverage is incomplete and English filings are voluntary | Global KRX, company-submitted English disclosures and translation tools help, but coverage varies |
| Machine-readable data | Official Open DART APIs and downloadable XBRL are available | Designed mainly as a KRX disclosure and listed-company information portal |
Why Does the Same Filing Appear on Both Sites?
Korea operates an integrated electronic disclosure environment. DART’s official history explains that exchange disclosures separately received by KRX’s market divisions became available through DART, while KRX guidance explains that listed companies disclose through the FSS’s DART and the KRX’s KIND systems. The result is deliberate overlap, not necessarily duplication by the company.
For an overseas investor, this overlap is useful: KIND can reveal that a document is a KRX timely disclosure or market notice, while DART can provide a familiar document archive and downloadable record. The portal that displays a filing does not, by itself, identify its legal category or prove that one copy is newer.
Do not decide that two documents conflict merely because their layouts differ. First compare the company, report title, reporting period, filing date and time, receipt number, correction status, and whether the figures are consolidated or separate-company figures.
How to Search DART Without Knowing Korean
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Begin with the six-digit stock code and Korean legal name
Open DART and enter the six-digit KRX stock code. Save the Korean company name shown in the result. Romanized names, group brands and ADR names can differ from the reporting entity’s legal name.
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Set the filing-date range, not the earnings period
DART filters by the date a document was filed. A report for the quarter ended March 31 may be filed weeks later, so widen the date range when the accounting period and publication date do not line up.
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Recognize the three periodic-report titles
사업보고서 is the annual report, 반기보고서 the semi-annual report and 분기보고서 the quarterly report. Use equity disclosure for ownership reports and advanced search when you know a Korean phrase.
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Use the left-hand document tree
Long Korean filings are split into sections. For financial research, locate the statements and notes, shareholder information, related-party transactions, contingent liabilities and audit opinion. Browser translation can help with navigation, but keep the original table open when copying numbers.
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Check Korean status markers before reading
A correction may appear as 정정, 기재정정 or 첨부정정; a withdrawal appears as 철회. Also check attachments and XBRL links before treating the first result as current.
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Preserve a reproducible source
Record the report’s Korean title, filing date and receipt number (접수번호). Download the complete document when needed; the receipt number is a better audit trail than a translated headline or search-result screenshot.
How to Use KIND as a Korean-Market Dashboard
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Match the company to its KRX market
Open KIND’s Today’s Disclosure and select KOSPI, KOSDAQ or KONEX. These are different KRX markets, not interchangeable labels for all Korean stocks.
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Read the timestamp in Korea Standard Time
The list shows a local filing time, company, disclosure title and submitting party. Compare it with the KST trading session before explaining an intraday or after-hours price reaction in another time zone.
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Separate issuer disclosure from exchange action
Check the submitter field. The issuer may disclose a contract while a KRX market division separately announces a trading suspension, warning designation or inquiry. Translate the title only after identifying who issued it.
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Use the company dashboard to build context
KIND brings together listing status, share issuance, treasury stock, governance, IR schedules, IPO information and investor-warning pages. This can explain why an apparently ordinary filing matters to the tradable security.
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Move from translated context to the Korean original
Use English or machine-translated text for orientation. For a material event, compare KIND with DART and confirm the newest Korean filing, attachments and correction chain.
How to Read Korean Earnings Without a Unit Error
You want the fastest headline figures
Search KIND for provisional results
Look for 영업(잠정)실적 or 연결재무제표기준 영업(잠정)실적. These titles usually indicate a fair disclosure of provisional operating results, not a complete quarterly filing.
- Confirm the reporting period and whether numbers are quarterly or cumulative.
- Identify consolidated versus separate-company results.
- Read the unit line: 원, 천원, 백만원 and 억원 represent different scales.
- Remember that 1 억 won is KRW 100 million and 1 조 won is KRW 1 trillion.
- Check whether the figures are subject to external-audit review.
You want the accounting record
Search DART for the periodic report
Open the annual, semi-annual or quarterly report for the relevant accounting period. Confirm whether the primary table is consolidated (연결) or separate-company (별도) before moving figures into a model.
- Income statement: revenue, operating profit and net income
- Balance sheet: cash, debt, receivables and inventory
- Cash-flow statement: operating cash generation and investing needs
- Notes: segment data, related parties, contingencies and accounting changes
- Audit or review opinion and subsequent corrections
How to Read a Korean Correction Filing
A correction can change a number, a date, a counterparty, an offering term or a risk disclosure. The word English services may translate several Korean correction labels simply as “revised” or “correction.” That label alone does not tell you whether the change is trivial or investment-critical.
- Open the newest filing. Confirm the latest filing date and time, not just the fiscal period in the title.
- Read the correction table first. Look for 정정 전 (before), 정정 후 (after) and 정정사유 (reason for correction).
- Recover the earlier version. In DART, clear the “final report” filter to include versions filed before the correction.
- Compare affected fields. Focus on amounts, dates, counterparties, financing terms, assumptions and risk factors.
- Check for another correction or withdrawal. A filing can be corrected more than once.
How to Decode Korean Ownership Filings
The English word “insider” does not map perfectly to one Korean filing. In DART’s company or advanced search, open the Equity Disclosure category and distinguish the reporting person, legal trigger and security type.
| Korean report title | What it helps you examine | What to read |
|---|---|---|
| 주식등의대량보유상황보고서 | Large ownership positions, commonly called the “5% report,” including the reporting group and reportable changes in holdings or purpose | Reporting person and related persons, ownership percentage, change, purpose of holding and transaction details |
| 임원ㆍ주요주주특정증권등소유상황보고서 | Specified securities owned by a company’s executives and major shareholders | Position, transaction date, security type, number held before/after and reason for change |
| 임원ㆍ주요주주 특정증권등 거래계획보고서 | A reportable transaction plan under the applicable advance-disclosure regime | Planned period, quantity, transaction method and any subsequent change or withdrawal |
A change in holdings is not always an open-market purchase or sale. It may reflect stock options, gifts, inheritance, conversion, collateral arrangements or a change in the reporting group. The transaction date may also differ from the filing date. Read the method and reason rather than inferring intent from the share-count change alone.
A Repeatable Workflow for an Overseas Investor
Anchor the issuer
Record the six-digit KRX code, current Korean legal name and market—KOSPI, KOSDAQ or KONEX. Do not rely on an English brand name alone.
Orient in English
Use English DART, Global KRX, the company’s investor-relations page or XBRL to understand the event and locate the likely Korean report title.
Check the KRX event trail
Open KIND to see the local timestamp, submitting party and any related trading suspension, warning, inquiry or listing action.
Verify the Korean primary document
Open the latest DART filing, confirm the period, unit, consolidated basis, attachments and correction status. Translate text in short sections rather than treating a full-page machine translation as authoritative.
Create a citation-quality record
Save the Korean title, receipt number, filing time in KST and direct URL. If you convert KRW or translate a figure, keep the original unit beside your calculation.
Mistakes International Readers Commonly Make
“The English company name uniquely identifies the issuer.”
Group brands, legal entities and vendor translations can differ. Match the six-digit code and Korean legal name.
“KRW million and 억원 are the same scale.”
They are not. One 억 won equals KRW 100 million. Read the unit printed above each table.
“No English filing means no disclosure.”
English coverage is incomplete. Always search the Korean system by stock code.
“The filing date is the fiscal-period end.”
The document may be filed weeks after the period closes. Use the accounting period for analysis and the KST filing time for event chronology.
“A translated correction title explains the change.”
Read the Korean before/after table and reason. The translated label alone does not show materiality.
“An insider holding increase is an open-market purchase.”
Options, conversion, gifts, collateral or reporting-group changes can alter holdings. Check the transaction method.
International Investor Checklist
- Have you matched the Korean legal name, six-digit code and KRX market?
- Is the document a company filing, a shareholder filing or a KRX market notice?
- What is the reporting period, and what was the filing time in KST?
- Is it the newest version? Is there a correction, withdrawal or later attachment?
- Are the figures quarterly or cumulative, consolidated or separate?
- Does the table use won, thousand won, KRW million, 억원 or 조원?
- Are the numbers provisional, reviewed or audited?
- Have you checked the Korean notes behind the translated headline?
- Does KIND show a related trading suspension, warning or listing action?
- Have you saved the Korean title, receipt number and original URL?
Frequently Asked Questions
Is DART the Korean equivalent of the SEC’s EDGAR?
DART plays a broadly comparable role as Korea’s central electronic disclosure archive, but the legal framework, filing categories and relationship with the exchange are Korean-specific. KIND adds KRX-listed-market context that does not map neatly to a single EDGAR screen.
Can I rely only on KIND for a KOSPI or KOSDAQ company?
KIND is excellent for monitoring listed-company events, but DART is usually the better endpoint for full periodic reports, notes, ownership filings, offering documents, corrections and machine-readable financial data.
Where should I look for quarterly earnings first?
For the earliest provisional headline, check KIND’s timely and fair disclosures. For accounting detail, use the quarterly, semi-annual or annual report on DART and confirm the Korean unit and consolidated basis.
What do 억 and 조 mean in Korean financial reporting?
One 억 won equals KRW 100 million, and one 조 won equals KRW 1 trillion. Many filings instead state figures in 원, 천원 or 백만원, so always read the table’s unit line.
How can I find an older version of a corrected filing?
In DART search, remove the “final report” filter. The official DART FAQ says this allows reports filed before a correction to appear.
Can I cite an English or machine-translated filing as the controlling source?
Use English material for access and explanation, but preserve and cite the Korean original for detailed research. English DART itself warns that voluntary English disclosures may not match the Korean filing and have no legal effect.
Key Takeaways
KIND supplies the market clock: what happened to the KRX-listed security, when it was disclosed in Korea and whether the exchange acted.
DART supplies the primary record: the complete report, Korean accounting detail, attachments and correction chain.
For an overseas investor: anchor every search to the six-digit code, preserve the Korean original and never convert a number before checking its unit.