The more shares held by foreign investors last year,... the more likely it was for the local companies to boost their dividend payouts last year.
This is in contrast to the lower dividend payments typical of Korean companies.
Local market analyst WISEfn says... of the combined 14 billion U.S. dollars in dividends paid by 8-hundred-85 listed companies in Korea,... around 5-billion was paid to foreigners.
That's a near 19-percent increase from the previous year.
This was more evident with Korean smartphone maker Samsung Electronics,... which had 52-percent of its shares held by foreign investors last year,... an increase of 3-percent from the previous year.