Investor-friendly return policies, along with a bullish stock market, are driving higher dividend payouts, which rose by more than 6 trillion won ($4.14 billion) last year among major listed companies, according to market observers and economists on Tuesday. They said dividend payouts are expected to rise further in 2026, noting that the Lee Jae Myung administration is reinforcing policies to empower investors while the benchmark KOSPI is rising faster than in 2025. “The pace of growth in shareholder returns could surpass 6 trillion won again this year,” said Jung Eui-jung, head of the Korean Stockholders’ Alliance, referring to data released by corporate tracker Leaders Index. The data showed that 694 major companies out of 2,651 listed companies paid 47.99 trillion won in dividends in 2025, marking an increase of 15.3 percent or 6.37 trillion won from 2024. Among the 694 companies, 371 increased their dividends, 106 kept their dividend amounts unchanged from the previous year and 65 began paying dividends after not doing so in 2024. The remaining 152 companies reduced their divid