The Bank of Korea resumes purchasing physical gold after 13 years, promoting diversification of foreign exchange reserves

According to the Seoul Economic Daily, the Bank of Korea has restarted its physical gold purchase program after 13 years, establishing a cooperation framework with the Korea Exchange (KRX), the Korea Securities Depository (KSD), and LS MnM to purchase gold planned for export by Korean gold producers. The Bank of Korea purchased a total of 90 tons of gold between 2011 and 2013. As of the end of June, the Bank of Korea's foreign exchange reserves amounted to $427.36 billion, of which gold reserves were worth approximately $4.79 billion, accounting for 1.1%. The annual gold production in South Korea is about 40 to 45 tons, of which about 4 to 5 tons can be exported. The Bank of Korea expects that the future procurement scale will not be too large.