The board resolved on 23 July to spend 700bn won buying its own shares on the open market and then destroy every one of them. At the previous day's close of 175,100 won that works out to an estimated 3,997,715 shares, about 1.1% of the 354,687,734 shares issued, and roughly 1.2% of market capitalisation. Purchases run from 24 July to 16 December through Samsung Securities, and the final share count will differ from the estimate because it depends on the price paid.

Two details matter. The filing states the acquired shares will be cancelled in full — not held in treasury, where Korean companies have historically parked repurchases and later reissued them. And because the cancellation is made under the proviso to Article 343(1) of the Commercial Act, out of distributable profit, the number of issued shares falls while paid-in capital does not. KB has said it will direct capital above a 13.5% CET1 ratio to shareholder returns; the ratio stood at 13.74% at the end of June, which is what funds this.