Korean Covered Call ETFs Compared: Distributions, Taxable Base, and 1-Year Results

I compare four covered call ETFs listed in Korea (RISE 200 Weekly Covered Call, RISE Korea Value-up Weekly Fixed Covered Call, KODEX 200 Target Weekly Covered Call, KODEX 200 Covered Call Active) on distributions, taxable base and tax, plus a month-by-month look at investing 100 million won for a year.

If you look into monthly-dividend ETFs in Korea, you quickly run into a lot of products with covered call in the name. A 20-30% annual distribution rate is tempting, but each product uses a slightly different strategy, so the cash you actually receive and the price path can be quite different. I picked four covered call ETFs listed on the Korean stock market and compared them using the distribution and taxable-base data published by the asset managers and actual closing prices.

All numbers are as of the close on October 20, 2026. Distributions and taxable base amounts come from each manager's product page¹²³⁴, and closing prices come from Naver Pay Securities daily quotes. Amounts are in Korean won (KRW).

What is a covered call ETF

A covered call is a strategy where you hold stocks and sell someone else the right to buy them at a fixed price (a call option), collecting money for it (the option premium).

• If the market goes sideways or down: the premium adds a bit of return and softens the loss slightly.
• If the market rises a lot: gains above the fixed price go to the option buyer, so your upside gets cut.

In short, you give up some upside in exchange for monthly cash (distributions). "Weekly" means the fund sells options that expire in one week, every week. The more often you sell options, the more premium you collect.

The four covered call ETFs compared

Item	RISE 200 Weekly Covered Call	RISE Korea Value-up Weekly Fixed Covered Call	KODEX 200 Target Weekly Covered Call	KODEX 200 Covered Call Active
Ticker	475720	0094M0	498400	0219E0
Manager	KB Asset Management	KB Asset Management	Samsung Asset Management	Samsung Asset Management
Listed	2024.03.05	2025.09.02	2024.12.03	2026.07.14
Underlying / benchmark index	KOSPI 200 Weekly Covered Call ATM	Korea Value-up Weekly Covered Call 30%	KOSPI 200 Target 15% Weekly Covered Call	KOSPI 200 Covered Call 5% OTM
Stock basket	KOSPI 200	Korea Value-up Index	KOSPI 200	KOSPI 200
How options are sold	Weekly ATM calls	KOSPI 200 weekly calls on a fixed 30% of assets	Selling ratio adjusted to target 15% annual premium	5% out-of-the-money calls, ratio set by the manager
Total fee (annual)	0.30%	0.30%	0.39%	0.50%
Net assets	approx. 749.4 billion won	approx. 470.7 billion won	approx. 5.2959 trillion won	approx. 977.8 billion won
Distribution record date	Last business day of each month	15th of each month	15th of each month	Last day of each month

A few terms explained:

• ATM (at-the-money): a call option struck at the current index level. You collect a large premium, but you hand over gains as soon as the index rises even a little.
• OTM (out-of-the-money): a call struck above the current level (5% higher here). Smaller premium, but you keep more of the upside.
• Fixed 30%: options are sold on only 30% of the assets, so the remaining 70% follows the index up as is.

An easy way to think about it: RISE 200 Weekly Covered Call is "distribution first," while the other three sit closer to "splitting between distributions and upside."

Distributions, taxable base, and tax

What is the taxable base

In Korea, the dividend income tax on ETF distributions (15.4%) applies only to the taxable base, not to the whole distribution. The taxable base is the part of the distribution that is subject to tax, mostly coming from stock dividends and interest.

Most of a covered call ETF's distribution comes from premiums earned by selling KOSPI 200 options and from gains on domestic stocks, and those are not taxed inside the ETF. That is why many months show a taxable base of just a few won even when the distribution is large. Samsung Asset Management also highlighted tax-free option premiums as a selling point when it launched KODEX 200 Covered Call Active⁵.

I calculated tax per share as taxable base × 15.4%. For example, if the distribution is 281 won and the taxable base is 105 won, tax applies only to the 105 won, which comes to about 16 won per share.

Summary of the last 12 distributions

Item	RISE 200 Weekly	RISE Value-up Fixed	KODEX 200 Target	KODEX Active
Recent distributions	12	12	12	3
Total distribution per share	2,567 won	4,560 won	3,235 won	495 won
Total taxable base per share	108 won	184 won	217 won	0 won
Taxable share of distributions	4.2%	4.0%	6.7%	0%
Total tax per share	approx. 16.6 won	approx. 28.3 won	approx. 33.4 won	0 won
Yield on current price	25.1%	33.0%	20.3%	-

Yield on current price is the sum of the last 12 distributions divided by the October 20 close. KODEX 200 Covered Call Active has only been listed for three months, so I did not calculate an annual yield for it.

The distribution rates in the tables below are the per-payment rates published by each manager. Managers use different reference prices for this rate, so to compare products it is more accurate to look at the total distributions in the summary above.

RISE 200 Weekly Covered Call (475720) distribution history

Record date	Pay date	Distribution per share	Rate	Taxable base	Tax per share
2026.09.30	2026.10.02	240 won	1.85%	1 won	0.15 won
2026.08.31	2026.09.02	240 won	1.88%	6 won	0.92 won
2026.07.31	2026.08.04	235 won	1.97%	5 won	0.77 won
2026.06.30	2026.07.02	280 won	1.70%	0 won	0.00 won
2026.05.29	2026.06.02	265 won	1.70%	0 won	0.00 won
2026.04.30	2026.05.06	237 won	1.70%	20 won	3.08 won
2026.03.31	2026.04.02	210 won	1.73%	36 won	5.54 won
2026.02.27	2026.03.04	200 won	1.46%	3 won	0.46 won
2026.01.30	2026.02.03	180 won	1.45%	23 won	3.54 won
2025.12.30	2026.01.05	160 won	1.49%	1 won	0.15 won
2025.11.28	2025.12.02	160 won	1.53%	5 won	0.77 won
2025.10.31	2025.11.04	160 won	1.48%	8 won	1.23 won
Total (12)		2,567 won		108 won	16.63 won

RISE Korea Value-up Weekly Fixed Covered Call (0094M0) distribution history

Record date	Pay date	Distribution per share	Rate	Taxable base	Tax per share
2026.10.15	2026.10.19	465 won	2.89%	46 won	7.08 won
2026.09.15	2026.09.17	540 won	2.98%	9 won	1.39 won
2026.08.14	2026.08.19	580 won	3.31%	23 won	3.54 won
2026.07.15	2026.07.20	590 won	2.94%	1 won	0.15 won
2026.06.15	2026.06.17	420 won	2.02%	7 won	1.08 won
2026.05.15	2026.05.19	390 won	1.84%	8 won	1.23 won
2026.04.15	2026.04.17	340 won	2.03%	54 won	8.32 won
2026.03.13	2026.03.17	400 won	2.47%	1 won	0.15 won
2026.02.13	2026.02.20	310 won	1.95%	1 won	0.15 won
2026.01.15	2026.01.19	190 won	1.35%	18 won	2.77 won
2025.12.15	2025.12.17	125 won	1.00%	8 won	1.23 won
2025.11.14	2025.11.18	210 won	1.64%	8 won	1.23 won
Total (12)		4,560 won		184 won	28.34 won

It also paid 105 won per share (taxable base 3 won) in October 2025 (record date October 15), right after listing, but that payment is not in the last 12.

KODEX 200 Target Weekly Covered Call (498400) distribution history

Record date	Pay date	Distribution per share	Rate	Taxable base	Tax per share
2026.10.15	2026.10.19	281 won	1.57%	105 won	16.17 won
2026.09.15	2026.09.17	300 won	1.45%	2 won	0.31 won
2026.08.14	2026.08.19	270 won	1.36%	3 won	0.46 won
2026.07.15	2026.07.20	323 won	1.53%	1 won	0.15 won
2026.06.15	2026.06.17	350 won	1.44%	0 won	0.00 won
2026.05.15	2026.05.19	348 won	1.42%	0 won	0.00 won
2026.04.15	2026.04.17	262 won	1.43%	43 won	6.62 won
2026.03.13	2026.03.17	252 won	1.43%	33 won	5.08 won
2026.02.13	2026.02.20	244 won	1.43%	1 won	0.15 won
2026.01.15	2026.01.19	213 won	1.41%	26 won	4.00 won
2025.12.15	2025.12.17	196 won	1.46%	3 won	0.46 won
2025.11.14	2025.11.18	196 won	1.41%	0 won	0.00 won
Total (12)		3,235 won		217 won	33.42 won

The October 2026 distribution had a much larger taxable base than usual, at 105 won. The taxable base tends to rise in months when dividends from the stocks in the fund come in, such as April.

KODEX 200 Covered Call Active (0219E0) distribution history

Record date	Pay date	Distribution per share	Rate	Taxable base	Tax per share
2026.09.30	2026.10.02	175 won	2.08%	0 won	0.00 won
2026.08.31	2026.09.02	167 won	1.94%	0 won	0.00 won
2026.07.31	2026.08.04	153 won	2.13%	0 won	0.00 won
Total (3)		495 won		0 won	0.00 won

All three payments had a taxable base of 0 won, so there was no tax. With only three months of history, though, it is too early to say whether that will continue.

If you had invested 100 million won for a year

Assumptions

• Purchase: 100 million won bought at the October 20, 2025 close (whole shares only, leftover kept as cash). KODEX 200 Covered Call Active was not listed yet, so I assumed it was bought at the close on its listing day, July 14, 2026, and months before listing are shown as -.
• Price: the close on the last trading day of each month. October 2026 uses the October 20 close.
• Distributions: placed in the month of the record date, counting only record dates after the purchase. For the month-end products (RISE 200 Weekly Covered Call, KODEX 200 Covered Call Active), the October record date hasn't come yet, so it is shown as Not yet paid.
• Tax: for each payment, 14% income tax plus 1.4% local income tax on taxable base × shares held (rounded down to the won). Trading fees and reinvestment of distributions are not included.

Item	RISE 200 Weekly	RISE Value-up Fixed	KODEX 200 Target	KODEX Active
Purchase date	2025.10.20	2025.10.20	2025.10.20	2026.07.14
Purchase price	8,610 won	9,059 won	10,730 won	8,380 won
Shares held	11,614	11,038	9,319	11,933

Monthly closing price

Month	RISE 200 Weekly	RISE Value-up Fixed	KODEX 200 Target	KODEX Active
2025.10	9,161 won	9,650 won	11,566 won	-
2025.11	8,796 won	9,257 won	11,070 won	-
2025.12	9,265 won	10,101 won	11,889 won	-
2026.01	10,781 won	12,657 won	14,696 won	-
2026.02	12,005 won	14,582 won	17,616 won	-
2026.03	10,044 won	12,120 won	14,225 won	-
2026.04	12,561 won	15,478 won	18,786 won	-
2026.05	14,765 won	19,527 won	24,659 won	-
2026.06	14,649 won	19,210 won	25,172 won	-
2026.07	11,459 won	16,444 won	19,425 won	8,063 won
2026.08	12,323 won	16,746 won	19,780 won	8,128 won
2026.09	12,490 won	16,632 won	20,094 won	8,270 won
2026.10 (20th)	10,240 won	13,800 won	15,975 won	6,525 won

Monthly after-tax distributions (100 million won invested)

Month	RISE 200 Weekly	RISE Value-up Fixed	KODEX 200 Target	KODEX Active
2025.10	1,843,940 won	0 won	0 won	-
2025.11	1,849,310 won	2,304,390 won	1,826,524 won	-
2025.12	1,856,460 won	1,366,160 won	1,822,224 won	-
2026.01	2,049,400 won	2,066,630 won	1,947,637 won	-
2026.02	2,317,450 won	3,420,090 won	2,272,406 won	-
2026.03	2,374,560 won	4,413,510 won	2,301,038 won	-
2026.04	2,716,758 won	3,661,140 won	2,379,868 won	-
2026.05	3,077,710 won	4,291,230 won	3,243,012 won	-
2026.06	3,251,920 won	4,624,070 won	3,261,650 won	-
2026.07	2,720,360 won	6,510,730 won	3,008,607 won	1,825,749 won
2026.08	2,776,640 won	6,362,950 won	2,511,830 won	1,992,811 won
2026.09	2,785,580 won	5,945,230 won	2,792,840 won	2,088,275 won
2026.10 (20th)	Not yet paid	5,054,490 won	2,467,969 won	Not yet paid

For the products with a 15th record date (RISE Value-up Fixed, KODEX 200 Target), the October 2025 distribution is 0 won because its record date (October 15) came before the purchase. They receive the October 2026 payment instead, so all four products collect 12 distributions in the year (3 for KODEX Active).

Monthly total assets (market value + accumulated after-tax distributions)

Month	RISE 200 Weekly	RISE Value-up Fixed	KODEX 200 Target	KODEX Active
2025.10	108,243,254 won	106,523,458 won	107,790,684 won	-
2025.11	105,853,454 won	104,489,914 won	104,994,984 won	-
2025.12	113,156,880 won	115,172,146 won	114,449,469 won	-
2026.01	132,813,104 won	145,451,904 won	142,555,539 won	-
2026.02	149,346,090 won	170,120,144 won	172,039,425 won	-
2026.03	128,945,596 won	147,358,098 won	142,739,734 won	-
2026.04	160,894,792 won	188,084,842 won	187,623,561 won	-
2026.05	189,569,758 won	237,068,934 won	245,597,060 won	-
2026.06	191,474,454 won	238,193,958 won	253,639,357 won	-
2026.07	157,146,154 won	214,173,580 won	203,091,671 won	98,042,988 won
2026.08	169,957,290 won	223,870,006 won	208,911,746 won	100,811,444 won
2026.09	174,682,408 won	228,556,904 won	214,630,752 won	104,594,205 won
2026.10 (20th)	148,550,908 won	202,351,778 won	178,713,760 won	83,771,120 won

Total assets are the month-end market value plus all after-tax distributions received so far and leftover cash (distributions are kept as cash, not reinvested).

One-year summary

Item	RISE 200 Weekly	RISE Value-up Fixed	KODEX 200 Target	KODEX Active (approx. 3 months)
Pre-tax distributions	29,813,138 won	50,333,280 won	30,146,965 won	5,906,835 won
Total tax	193,050 won	312,660 won	311,360 won	0 won
After-tax distributions	29,620,088 won	50,020,620 won	29,835,605 won	5,906,835 won
Market value on Oct 20	118,927,360 won	152,324,400 won	148,871,025 won	77,862,825 won
Total assets	148,550,908 won	202,351,778 won	178,713,760 won	83,771,120 won
Price return	+18.9%	+52.3%	+48.9%	-22.1%
Total return incl. distributions	+48.6%	+102.4%	+78.7%	-16.2%

For reference, over the same period KODEX 200 (069500), which tracks the KOSPI 200 directly, went from 53,166 won to 86,755 won, a gain of about 63.2% (excluding distributions).

What the comparison showed

Tax is far smaller than you might expect

With 100 million won, the products paid roughly 30 to 50 million won in pre-tax distributions over the year, yet the tax was only about 200,000 to 310,000 won. If 15.4% had applied to the whole distribution, RISE 200 Weekly Covered Call alone would have cost about 4.59 million won in tax.

Korea's comprehensive financial income taxation (interest and dividend income above 20 million won a year is added to other income and taxed at progressive rates) also counts only the taxable base portion, not the full distribution. In the calculation above, the taxable amount was about 1.25 million won for RISE 200 Weekly Covered Call, about 2.03 million won for RISE Value-up Fixed, and about 2.02 million won for KODEX 200 Target, well below the threshold.

However, gains from selling these products are also taxed under the holding-period taxation rule. Samsung Asset Management's product page describes it as Min(capital gain, increase in taxable base price) × 15.4%³. Tax applies only to the smaller of your actual gain and the increase in the taxable base price over your holding period, so if that increase is small, the tax on sale is small too.

In a rising market, products that sell fewer options did better

The past year was a strong bull market, with the KOSPI 200 up more than 60%. In that kind of market, products that hand over more of the upside fall behind.

• RISE 200 Weekly Covered Call sells ATM calls and paid steady monthly distributions, but its price rose only 18.9%. Even with distributions, it trailed the price gain of KODEX 200.
• KODEX 200 Target Weekly Covered Call targets only 15% annual premium, so it sells fewer options, and its price rose 48.9%. With distributions, it beat the KOSPI 200's gain.
• RISE Korea Value-up Weekly Fixed Covered Call sells options on only 30% of assets and holds the Value-up index, so it had both the highest price return (52.3%) and the largest distributions (50 million won).

In a falling market, they all fall together

When the KOSPI dropped sharply in October 2026, all four fell 17-21% from their end-of-September levels. A covered call only softens losses by the premium collected. It does not protect you from price declines. KODEX 200 Covered Call Active, assumed to have been bought at a high price right after listing, is still 16.2% below the original investment even after distributions.

Part of the reason RISE Value-up Fixed's distributions grew is also that its price rose a lot. Distributions change every month, and as the manager notes, distributing more than the fund earns can reduce your principal¹.

Recommendations by goal

There is no guarantee the past year's results will repeat. The list below is my personal take based on how each product is built, and it is not investment advice.

• If you want the most distributions plus upside: RISE Korea Value-up Weekly Fixed Covered Call. With option selling fixed at 30%, it did well in the rising market and paid the most. On the other hand, it has a little over a year of history and can swing as much as a regular equity ETF in a downturn.
• If you want the large, actively traded flagship: KODEX 200 Target Weekly Covered Call. With over 5 trillion won in net assets it is easy to buy and sell, and its 15% target gives a good balance between distributions and upside. The total fee is 0.39%.
• If monthly cash matters more than price: RISE 200 Weekly Covered Call. As an ATM covered call it shines when the index moves sideways or dips slightly, it has a track record since 2024, and its total fee is low (0.30%). Keep in mind that it gives up a lot in rising markets.
• If you can accept smaller distributions for more upside: KODEX 200 Covered Call Active. With 5% OTM calls it follows more of the index's gains, and its taxable base has been 0 won so far. But it has the highest fee at 0.50% and only three months of history, so it may be worth watching a while longer before deciding.

If you plan to live on the distributions, you can also mix products with different record dates (month-end and the 15th) to get paid twice a month.

References

Footnotes

1. https://riseetf.co.kr/prod/finderDetail/44G3 ↩ ↩²

2. https://kbam.co.kr/products/44J2 ↩

3. https://www.samsungfund.com/etf/product/view.do?id=2ETFP4 ↩ ↩²

4. https://www.samsungfund.com/etf/product/view.do?id=2ETFV8 ↩

5. https://www.samsungfund.com/etf/insight/newsroom/view.do?seq=77713 ↩