[South Korea's National Pension Service Achieves 27.2% Return in H1] Odaily Planet Daily reports that South Korea's National Pension Service (NPS) achieved a 27.2% return in the first half of the year, marking its best performance for the same period since at least 2022. The strong rally in the South Korean stock market boosted the investment performance of one of the world's largest pension funds. NPS stated on Friday that as of the end of June, its assets under management amounted to 1,866 trillion won ($1.35 trillion). With the South Korean KOSPI index reaching record highs, its domestic stock investment return rate hit 107.4%. NPS Chairman Kim Sung-joo noted that thanks to the "positive performance of both domestic and international stock markets," NPS achieved strong results. NPS's overseas stock investment return rate was 17.8%, while overseas fixed income and alternative investments yielded 9.22% and 9.6%, respectively. However, domestic bonds incurred a 3% loss. Its preliminary investment return rate for the first half has already surpassed last year's record-breaking annual return rate of 18.8%. (Jin10)