No more delays…FTSE reconfirms South Korea's WGBI inclusion in April next year

Inclusion weight 2.08% expected… ninth-largest among WGBI countries

Global index provider UK FTSE (Financial Times Stock Exchange) Russell reconfirmed that South Korean government bonds will be included in the World Government Bond Index (WGBI) from April next year. The share of Korean government bonds in the WGBI was forecast at 2.08%.

FTSE Russell released the "September 2025 FTSE Bond Market Country Classification Review Results" containing these details on the afternoon of the 7th (local time).

FTSE Russell guided that "the inclusion of Korean government bonds into the WGBI will be phased in over eight equal monthly instalments from April to November 2026," adding that "we will closely cooperate with the South Korean government, investors, and market infrastructure institutions to ensure a frictionless index inclusion of Korean government bonds."

Originally, FTSE Russell decided on Korea's WGBI inclusion last October and said it would actually be included from this November, about a year later. However, in its April report last year it postponed the inclusion schedule to April next year.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance said this was "FTSE Russell's final official review before the actual inclusion in the WGBI in April next year," and evaluated that "it is meaningful in that it reconfirms the inclusion decision announced in April." The announcement is expected to further increase market predictability and help enhance the credibility and stability of the government bond market.

FTSE Russell estimated Korea's WGBI inclusion weight at 2.08% as of this October. This would be the ninth-largest among all included countries. If Korean government bonds join the WGBI, the country with the largest weight would be the United States (40.9%), followed by China (10.1%), Japan (9.2%), France (6.5%), and Italy (6.0%).

Reporter Kwangsik Lee bumeran@hankyung.com