Gold Kimchi Premium
Formula — gold premium = ((Korean gold price − global gold price in KRW) ÷ global gold price in KRW) × 100. The global price, quoted in dollars per troy ounce, is divided down to a per-gram price and then converted at the official USD/KRW base rate. (1 troy ounce = 31.1034768 g)
Sources — Korea: per-gram quotes from the Korea Exchange (KRX) gold market · Global: COMEX gold futures (New York Mercantile Exchange) · FX: the official KRW base rate published by Dunamu. Quotes refresh roughly every minute and may lag the market.
What is the gold kimchi premium?
The gold kimchi premium measures how much more (or less) physical gold costs on the Korea Exchange (KRX) gold market than on the international market. It works exactly like the Bitcoin kimchi premium: take the same asset, compare its Korean price against its global price, and express the gap as a percentage. KimpWatch converts COMEX gold futures into KRW per gram using the official KRW base rate and compares it against live KRX per-gram quotes, refreshing roughly every minute.
How to read the number
A positive premium means buying gold in Korea costs more than the international spot price; a negative premium means Korean gold is trading at a discount. Keep in mind that the headline number is not free profit — brokerage fees, VAT (on physical withdrawal), and bid-ask spreads all eat into any apparent arbitrage. This indicator is provided for reference only and is not investment advice.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the gold kimchi premium?
- It's the percentage gap between the price of physical gold traded on Korea's KRX gold market and the global gold price converted into Korean won. A positive premium means gold trades at a markup in Korea compared with the international market; a negative premium means it trades at a discount.
- Why does gold trade at a premium in Korea?
- Several factors stack up: local supply and demand (safe-haven buying, strong retail appetite for gold bars and gift jewelry), swings in the won, import costs and taxes, and mismatched trading hours. The premium tends to widen when the won weakens or when Korean investors pile into gold.
- KRX gold and global gold use different units — how are they compared?
- KRX quotes gold in KRW per gram, while the international market quotes it in USD per troy ounce. Since one troy ounce equals 31.1034768 grams, we divide the global price down to dollars per gram and multiply by the official USD/KRW base rate to get a like-for-like KRW/g figure.
- How is this different from the crypto kimchi premium?
- The math is identical — only the asset differs. Crypto trades around the clock, so its premium updates continuously. Gold, however, follows two separate schedules: the KRX gold market (weekdays 09:00–15:30 KST) and COMEX. Outside overlapping hours, the reading can reflect quotes taken at different points in time.