South Korea’s sole bourse operator is slated to translate daily disclosures of 54 companies listed on the Kospi market in English starting Monday, according to officials Sunday.

As of end-August, foreign investors held 35.3 percent stock ownership of Kospi-listed companies. The number of disclosures translated in English, however, was just 697 -- 5.9 percent of those published in Korean.

To provide more information on Korean companies to foreign investors, the Korea Exchange’s Kospi Market Committee started to take applications from companies that wanted to use the translation service last month, officials said.

The list includes firms such as Samsung Biologics, Naver, Kakao, Posco, Shinhan Financial Group, LG U+, Orion, Netmarble, Mirae Asset Daewoo, Hotel Shilla, Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction, Korea Line and DoubleUGames.

“We will improve foreign investors’ accessibility to the local stock market by offering English translations of Korean companies’ disclosures. We hope the market expands and becomes globalized,” a KRX official said.

In January, Lim Jae-joon, president of the Kospi Market Committee, said the bourse operator will try to mitigate the “Korea Discount,” a market term describing foreign investors’ lower equity valuation of local stocks.

By Jie Ye-eun (yeeun@heraldcorp.com)