Korea Investment Corporation opens Tokyo office to expand Asia-Pacific investment reach

Korea Investment Corporation (KIC) has opened an overseas office in Tokyo to strengthen its investment capabilities in Japan and the broader Asia-Pacific region. The Tokyo office is KIC's sixth overseas outpost, following offices in New York, London, Singapore, San Francisco and Mumbai.

KIC held an opening ceremony Tuesday at Marunouchi, Tokyo's financial district. About 120 capital market officials from South Korea and Japan attended, including KIC President Park Il-young, South Korean Ambassador to Japan Lee Hyeok, Japanese Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs Mimura Atsushi and Financial Services Agency Director-General for International Affairs Miyoshi Toshiyuki.

The Tokyo office will operate as an investment hub covering both traditional assets — equities and bonds — and alternative assets such as private equity and real estate. It will also work to identify investment opportunities available only through a local presence and to strengthen information sharing and cooperation with Korean financial institutions operating in Japan.

KIC said Japan, the world's fourth-largest economy by gross domestic product, has been showing signs of structural recovery, with wages, prices and corporate earnings improving together as the country emerges from a prolonged period of low growth and deflation. The fund said it established the Tokyo office to build up its investment capabilities in the Japanese market as global investor attention grows.

"The Tokyo office will play a central role as a strategic base for quickly grasping changes in Japan, the Asia-Pacific region and global capital markets to enhance the future value of the Republic of Korea," Park said. "Please devote all your efforts to communicating closely with outstanding local asset managers, financial institutions and investee companies to uncover high-quality investment opportunities."

Ambassador Lee said he hoped the Tokyo office would serve as a bridge connecting the financial ecosystems of South Korea and Japan, fostering bilateral cooperation and creating long-term shared value. "It will become an important hub for expanding exchanges with local financial institutions in Japan — one of the world's foremost institutional investor communities — and for identifying new investment opportunities," he said.

KIC, established in 2005 as South Korea's only sovereign wealth fund, invests foreign exchange reserves and other assets in overseas markets. As of the end of last year, its assets under management stood at $232 billion, placing it among the world's top 10 sovereign wealth funds. It posted an annual return of 13.91% last year and an annualized 10-year return of 7.07%, with cumulative investment gains since its founding reaching $122.4 billion.