South Korea's National Pension Service posted a 27.22 percent investment return in the first half of the year, driven by a sharp rally in domestic stocks, the pension fund said Friday.
The return was well above the 18.82 percent return the NPS recorded for all of 2025, which in turn had marked its highest annual return since the fund was established in 1988. The fund's assets stood at 1,866 trillion won ($1.35 trillion) as of end-June, up from 1,458 trillion won at the end of last year.
Domestic equities were by far the biggest contributor, returning 107.37 percent during the six-month period. The NPS attributed the gains to easing uncertainty surrounding the Middle East conflict and solid corporate earnings, particularly in the semiconductor sector.
Overseas equities returned 17.81 percent, supported by the continued artificial intelligence investment cycle and strong earnings among major technology companies.
The performance of bond investments was more mixed. Domestic bonds posted a negative return of 3 percent as rising interest rates reduced their valuation, while overseas bonds returned 9.22 percent, helped in part by the won's depreciation against the US dollar.
Alternative investments generated a return of 9.6 percent. The figure reflects interest and dividend income, foreign exchange gains or losses and the most recent fair-value assessments of underlying assets.
The strong first-half performance extends a period of rapid growth for the world's third-largest pension fund. NPS assets had already reached 1,848.7 trillion won by the end of May, with overseas investments accounting for more than half of its financial assets.
NPS Chair and CEO Kim Sung-joo said favorable domestic and overseas equity markets helped the fund generate solid returns during the first half.
"While heightened volatility in the second half has caused some fluctuations in returns, we are still maintaining solid performance," Kim said, adding that the NPS would continue to pursue long-term, stable returns through risk management and portfolio diversification.
By Choi Ji-won (jwc@heraldcorp.com)
