South Korean stocks opened higher Thursday as the US Federal Reserve's minutes signaled that the world's largest economy would not hurry its timeframe for tapering its asset purchasing program.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 7.43 points, or 0.23 percent, to trade at 3,292.77 points as of 9:15 a.m.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.3 percent, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 adding 0.01 percent and 0.34 percent, respectively.

In Seoul, market bellwether Samsung Electronics gained 0.37 percent, while No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix lost 0.4 percent.

Internet portal operator Naver climbed 1.08 percent, and giant pharmaceutical firm Samsung Biologics moved up 1.66 percent.

Top automaker Hyundai Motor traded flat, and leading chemical firm LG Chem declined 0.46 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,140.2 won against the US dollar, down 2.1 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)