The Bank of Korea bought gold after thirteen years, without spending a single dollar

The Bank of Korea started buying gold again on August 3, 2026. It had not added a single gram since February 2013.

Bank of Korea resumes buying gold after a 13-year pause (Korea JoongAng Daily, 2026-08-03)

출처: koreajoongangdaily.com

The report adds that the bank has also started buying overseas-listed physical gold ETFs. Bullion and listed products are going into the same basket now.

What stopped the buying was not the market

The bank began in July 2011, taking 25 tonnes at $1,544 an ounce, and filled out 90 tonnes over five purchases through February 2013. Gold then peaked in September 2011 and slid. At the 2013 parliamentary audit the bank was scolded for having bought the top, and the same charge came back at hearing after hearing for years. Most of the staff involved were reportedly reassigned to regional offices. Then thirteen years passed.

A different wallet this time

Korea exports gold. Smelters such as LS MnM and Korea Zinc recover 40 to 45 tonnes a year as a by-product of processing copper and zinc. The slice that used to leave the country as exports is what the bank is now buying. Buying domestic metal in won means no dollars have to come out of the reserve pool. It is like paying for something made in your own house with money already in the house: nothing leaves. Storage moves home as well. Gold parked in London is not risk-free either. The Bank of England lends out part of the metal it safekeeps to global investment banks and earns a fee. The Bank of Korea has used its share of that fee to cover storage costs. If the lent metal does not come back on time when it is called, there is a hole. Whether domestically refined bars count as reserve assets is already settled. LS MnM sits on the London Bullion Market Association's Good Delivery list. The metal clears the international standard, so moving storage onshore does not disturb how it is counted.

Where 1.1 percent and 3.2 percent part ways

The original post puts gold at 1.1 percent of Korea's reserves. The Korea Times puts the same line at 3.2 percent. The gap appears to come from whether the metal is carried at what it cost or at what it is worth today. Either way the number sits far below the average for central banks. That is the reason to check the basis before reading a headline share.

What the World Gold Council counted in the first half of 2026

The original post says China raised the size of its purchases for five straight months from March 2026. Bloomberg counts a buying streak of 21 months, with 640,000 ounces added in July, the largest monthly purchase since October 2023. The two figures do not clash. One counts months in which the purchase grew, the other counts months in which buying never stopped.

Across all central banks, though, the picture points in more than one direction. World Gold Council data put 2025 net buying at 863 tonnes, while the first half of 2026 came to 345 tonnes, the weakest first half since 2022. The same body's full-year 2026 range is 700 to 900 tonnes. The 900-plus figure in the original post is the top end of that range. So Korea breaking a thirteen-year pause and global central bank buying shrinking in the first half now sit side by side. That is where the least price-sensitive slice of gold demand is decided. Net buying above 555 tonnes in the second half reaches 900 for the year and the whale story holds; anything below that leaves 2026 as a smaller year than 2025.