NPORT-EX 2 ClientFiling808601_KF.HTM HTML

Schedule of Investments

The Korea Fund, Inc.

September 30, 2019 (unaudited)

 

Shares            Value^  

COMMON STOCK—97.4%

  

Aerospace & Defense—2.5%

  
     112,019      Hanwha Aerospace Co., Ltd. (b)    $ 3,945,133  
        

 

 

 

Air Freight & Logistics—1.0%

  
     11,925      Hyundai Glovis Co., Ltd.      1,553,333  
        

 

 

 

Auto Components—3.0%

  
     22,544      Hyundai Mobis Co., Ltd.      4,744,225  
        

 

 

 

Automobiles—3.1%

  
     44,474      Hyundai Motor Co.      4,979,528  
        

 

 

 

Banks—7.5%

  
     95,667      Hana Financial Group, Inc.      2,816,145  
     124,760      KB Financial Group, Inc.      4,452,869  
     133,435      Shinhan Financial Group Co., Ltd.      4,662,615  
        

 

 

 
           11,931,629  
        

 

 

 

Chemicals—3.1%

  
     16,989      LG Chem Ltd.      4,248,072  
     3,714      Lotte Chemical Corp.      732,447  
        

 

 

 
           4,980,519  
        

 

 

 

Electric Utilities—2.9%

  
     211,518      Korea Electric Power Corp. (b)      4,576,101  
        

 

 

 

Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components—1.6%

  
     10,438      Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., Ltd.      898,188  
     8,840      Samsung SDI Co., Ltd.      1,645,734  
        

 

 

 
           2,543,922  
        

 

 

 

Entertainment—1.7%

  
     6,283      NCSoft Corp.      2,735,954  
        

 

 

 

Food & Staples Retailing—1.9%

  
     5,870      BGF retail Co., Ltd.      966,126  
     60,132      GS Retail Co., Ltd.      2,072,813  
        

 

 

 
           3,038,939  
        

 

 

 

Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure—4.3%

  
     207,145      Kangwon Land, Inc.      5,117,364  
     115,030      Paradise Co., Ltd.      1,778,738  
        

 

 

 
           6,896,102  
        

 

 

 

Household Durables—0.8%

  
     21,884      LG Electronics, Inc.      1,232,016  
        

 

 

 

Industrial Conglomerates—3.7%

  
     53,186      LG Corp.      3,112,503  
     10,456      Samsung C&T Corp.      783,408  
     11,244      SK Holdings Co., Ltd.      1,916,702  
        

 

 

 
           5,812,613  
        

 

 

 

Insurance—3.3%

  
     67,718      DB Insurance Co., Ltd.      2,916,850  
     105,863      Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance Co., Ltd.      2,334,076  
        

 

 

 
           5,250,926  
        

 

 

 

Interactive Media & Services—7.4%

  
     82,950      AfreecaTV Co., Ltd.      4,450,622  
     13,971      Kakao Corp.      1,581,731  
     44,192      NAVER Corp.      5,796,452  
        

 

 

 
           11,828,805  
        

 

 

 

IT Services—0.5%

  
     4,627      Samsung SDS Co., Ltd.      736,319  
        

 

 

 


Shares            Value^  

Machinery—1.9%

  
     33,289      Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., Ltd. (b)    $ 849,577  
     2,129      Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings Co., Ltd.      621,265  
     15,419      Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co., Ltd. (b)      1,596,253  
        

 

 

 
           3,067,095  
        

 

 

 

Marine—1.8%

  
     730,797      Pan Ocean Co., Ltd. (b)      2,789,558  
        

 

 

 

Metals & Mining—4.7%

  
     9,788      Korea Zinc Co., Ltd.      3,663,664  
     20,144      POSCO      3,818,454  
        

 

 

 
           7,482,118  
        

 

 

 

Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels—2.0%

  
     11,669      S-Oil Corp.      967,493  
     16,296      SK Innovation Co., Ltd.      2,256,547  
        

 

 

 
           3,224,040  
        

 

 

 

Personal Products—3.2%

  
     4,737      LG Household & Health Care Ltd.      5,170,062  
        

 

 

 

Pharmaceuticals—0.8%

  
     2,918      Hanmi Pharm Co., Ltd.      672,370  
     3,369      Yuhan Corp.      642,987  
        

 

 

 
           1,315,357  
        

 

 

 

Road & Rail—1.7%

  
     22,573      CJ Logistics Corp. (b)      2,723,577  
        

 

 

 

Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment—3.9%

  
     90,231      SK Hynix, Inc.      6,197,090  
        

 

 

 

Software—0.3%

  
     9,209      Douzone Bizon Co., Ltd.      503,083  
        

 

 

 

Specialty Retail—0.8%

  
     17,678      Hotel Shilla Co., Ltd.      1,272,754  
        

 

 

 

Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals—24.9%

  
     970,362      Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.      39,730,529  
        

 

 

 

Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods—2.1%

  
     70,170      Fila Korea Ltd.      3,394,803  
        

 

 

 

Tobacco—1.0%

  
     18,236      KT&G Corp.      1,608,877  
        

 

 

 
     

Total Investments (cost-$117,174,771) (a)(c)—97.4%

     155,265,007  
        

 

 

 
     

Other assets less liabilities—2.6%

     4,113,764  
        

 

 

 
     

Net Assets—100.0%

   $ 159,378,771  
        

 

 

 


 

Notes to Schedule of Investments:

 

^

Portfolio securities and other financial instruments for which market quotations are readily available are valued at market value. Market values for various types of securities and other instruments are determined on the basis of closing prices or last sales prices on an exchange or other market, or based on quotes or other market information obtained from quotation reporting systems, established market makers or pricing services. Investments in mutual funds are valued at the net asset value per share (“NAV”) as reported on each business day.

Portfolio securities and other financial instruments for which market quotations are not readily available (including in cases where available market quotations are deemed to be unreliable), are fair-valued, in good faith, pursuant to procedures established by the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of The Korea Fund, Inc. (the “Fund”), or persons acting at their discretion pursuant to procedures established by the Board. The Fund’s investments are valued daily and the Fund’s NAV is calculated as of the close of regular trading (normally 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time) on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) on each day the NYSE is open for business using prices supplied by an independent pricing service or broker/dealer quotations, or by using the last sale or settlement price on the exchange that is the primary market for such securities, or the mean between the last bid and ask quotations. In unusual circumstances, the Board or the Valuation Committee may in good faith determine the NAV as of 4:00 p.m., Eastern Time, notwithstanding an earlier, unscheduled close or halt of trading on the NYSE. For foreign equity securities (with certain exceptions, if any), the Fund fair values its securities daily using modeling tools provided by a statistical research service. This service utilizes statistics and programs based on historical performance of markets and other economic data (which may include changes in the value of U.S. securities or security indices).

Short-term investments having a remaining maturity of 60 days or less shall be valued at amortized cost unless the Board or its Valuation Committee determines that particular circumstances dictate otherwise.

Investments initially valued in currencies other than the U.S. dollar are converted to the U.S. dollar using exchange rates obtained from pricing services. As a result, the NAV of the Fund’s shares may be affected by changes in the value of currencies in relation to the U.S. dollar. The value of securities traded in markets outside the United States or denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar may be affected significantly on a day that the NYSE is closed. The prices used by the Fund to value securities may differ from the value that would be realized if the securities were sold and these differences could be material.

 

(a)

Securities with an aggregate value of $147,035,140, representing 92.3% of net assets, were valued utilizing modeling tools provided by a third-party vendor.

 

(b)

Non-income producing.

 

(c)

At September 30, 2019, the cost basis of portfolio securities for federal income tax purposes was $117,174,771. Gross unrealized appreciation was $51,386,774; gross unrealized depreciation was $13,296,538; and net unrealized appreciation was $38,090,236. The difference between book and tax cost was attributable to wash sale loss deferrals.

Fair Value Measurements

Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability (i.e., the “exit price”) in an orderly transaction between market participants. The three levels of the fair value hierarchy are described below:

 

   

Level 1 – quoted prices in active markets for identical investments that the Fund has the ability to access

 

   

Level 2 – valuations based on other significant observable inputs, which may include, but are not limited to, quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities, interest rates, yield curves, volatilities, prepayment speeds, loss severities, credit risks and default rates or other market corroborated inputs

 

   

Level 3 – valuations based on significant unobservable inputs (including the Investment Manager’s or Valuation Committee’s own assumptions and securities whose price was determined by using a single broker’s quote)

The valuation techniques used by the Fund to measure fair value during the three months ended September 30, 2019 were intended to maximize the use of observable inputs and to minimize the use of unobservable inputs.

An investment asset’s or liability’s level within the fair value hierarchy is based on the lowest level input, individually or in aggregate, that is significant to the fair value measurement. The objective of fair value measurement remains the same even when there is a significant decrease in the volume and level of activity for an asset or liability and regardless of the valuation techniques used.

The inputs or methodology used for valuing securities are not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those securities. The following are certain inputs and techniques that the Fund generally uses to evaluate how to classify each major category of assets and liabilities within Level 2 and Level 3, in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Equity Securities (Common Stock) — Equity securities traded in inactive markets and certain foreign equity securities are valued using inputs which include broker-dealer quotes, recently executed transactions adjusted for changes in the benchmark index, or evaluated price quotes received from independent pricing services that take into account the integrity of the market sector and issuer, the individual characteristics of the security, and information received from broker-dealers and other market sources pertaining to the issuer or security. To the extent that these inputs are observable, the values of equity securities are categorized as Level 2. To the extent that these inputs are unobservable, the values are categorized as Level 3.


A summary of the inputs used at September 30, 2019 in valuing the Fund’s assets and liabilities is listed below (refer to the Schedule of Investments for more detailed information on Investments in Securities):

 

    Level 1 -
Quoted Prices
    Level 2 -
Other Significant
Observable
Inputs
    Level 3 -
Significant
Unobservable
Inputs
    Value at
9/30/19
 

Investments in Securities—Assets

       

Common Stock:

       

Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure

  $ 5,117,364     $ 1,778,738       —       $ 6,896,102  

Industrial Conglomerates

    3,112,503       2,700,110       —         5,812,613  

All Other

    —         142,556,292       —         142,556,292  
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Totals

  $ 8,229,867     $ 147,035,140       —       $ 155,265,007