With the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index(KOSPI) hitting record highs, South Korea’s National Pension Service(NPS) posted its strongest performance in years.

As of the end of August, the NPS reported an overall return of eight-point-22 percent, but officials say the figure likely exceeded 20 percent by late October, when the KOSPI broke the four-thousand mark.

The fund’s total assets have expanded from one-thousand-212 trillion won at the end of last year to more than one-thousand-400-trillion won, a gain of more than 200-trillion won.

Domestic equities drove the rally, with semiconductor giants Samsung Electronics and SK hynix fueling estimated returns of more than 60 percent.

For the first time, stocks now make up more than half the fund’s portfolio—14-point-eight percent in domestic shares and 36-point-eight percent in overseas stocks—up from 32 percent a decade ago.

Analysts say the fund's shift toward higher-yield equities has paid off, boosting returns amid concerns about future depletion linked to South Korea’s aging population.