That's kind of not the issue. There is nothing that prevents a Korean broker from registering in the US. The parties involved simply don't want to spend the $$ to do proper surveillance on Korean securities. The securities side can be still be made available to institutions,bds and qualified investors. Somebody in this equation simply didn't want to continue the discussion.
For what it's worth, I got an answer from IB that they are working on supporting two out of five biggest stock exchanges on my list -- South Korea and Taiwan, but it won't be very soon... due to finding partners/custodians and dealing with currency limitations.
That is interesting indeed. I have been looking for a good setup for trading the Thai SET. I use Phillip Capital in Singapore now, but they do not allow short selling Thai stocks for example. It is hard to find any good options in Europe to access the Thai stockmarket. I have only briefly looked at the Korean market. But it seems like there are too many hurdles (like stamp duty) to make it worth the effort.
@markd01 or others: Did anyone hear any news regarding the progress of IB working on access to South Korean equities?
It seems the only brokers I found that allow a foreigner to trade in Korea and Indonesia are Boom and Phillip Capital, both of which have insanely high commissions. IB aren't forthcoming with these markets. Are there any other brokers, perhaps with lower commissions than Boom and Phillip Capital?
I too am waiting for IB to open Korea. It's a pain. You can open an account with a Korean broker, there is some paperwork, but it works. One of them, I forgot the name, had an English speaking manager a few years ago. The problem is, once you transfer the money and buy stock in Korea, you are probably stuck there for the rest of your life, unless you want to pay the taxes on your appreciated stocks. I'm currently still waiting.
https://hubbis.com/article/interact...orm-from-the-region-s-family-offices-and-eams Key Priorities Guillaume says the first objective is to have 1% of the Singapore population as customers, and that they are well on track to achieve that. “And, of course, we aim to become the platform of choice or at least a key relationship for all the family office operations,” he reports. “Outside Singapore, we have regional expansion missions, with South Korea for its market access, as well as India for Inbound Flow, and as internal growth markets like Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia, although we recognise we might be hampered somewhat by currency controls in some countries.”"