CEO Score surveyed 345 comparable companies among the top 500 in South Korea and found the average salary per employee for the first half of the year was 54.99 million won. ^[1] As of 2026-07-31, the number of individual professional investors in South Korea reached 26,282, up 3,787 (16.8%) from 22,495 at the end of 2025, according to data from the Korea Financial Investment Association submitted to lawmaker Park Seong-hoon. ^[2] Forced selling (반대매매) related to credit transaction loans and securities collateral loans in South Korea averaged 2,258 accounts and 43.868 billion won per day in July 2026, up from 622 accounts and 3.377 billion won in July 2025 - 3.6 times the accounts and 13 times the amount. ^[3] According to the Korea Financial Investment Association's bond information center, South Korean banks' cumulative net issuance of bank bonds reached 31.4883 trillion won in the first eight months of 2026, with 80% (25.09 trillion won) issued between June and August 2026. ^[4] The Bank of Korea said that South Korean household debt surpassed 2,000 trillion won for the first time in the second quarter of 2026, rising 25.9 trillion won from the previous quarter's 1,993.9 trillion won, the largest increase since the third quarter of 2021. ^[5] Korea Financial Investment had the highest average salary at 184 million won, a 13.6% increase from 162 million won in the first half of last year. ^[6] Individual professional investors in South Korea can access high-risk products such as contract for difference (CFD) and are exempt from minimum investment and investment limit regulations applied to general investors. ^[7]