CLSA's South Korea division has introduced a high-yield defensive investment portfolio dubbed "Kimchi," asserting that the 30 stocks included offer compelling investment prospects. Shim Jong-min, the brokerage's head of research, noted in a report that "companies with stable earnings outlooks and attractive dividend yields can consistently provide relative downside protection."

"Kimchi" stands for the Korea Income Model for Compounding, High-yield Investment. CLSA has selected stocks that exhibit strong resilience, showing low sensitivity to macroeconomic factors and market sentiment while maintaining robust earnings momentum.

Shim stated that recent market turbulence has driven rising investor interest in low-beta defensive equities. While the brokerage maintains an overall optimistic stance on the South Korean market, it believes allocating to defensive stocks is a prudent move until market volatility subsides, with expectations of sideways trading in the coming months.

Components of the Kimchi portfolio include KB Financial, Kia, Shinhan Financial, Hana Financial, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, Woori Financial, SK Telecom, KT&G, Kovea, LG UPlus, Youngone, Korea Gas, F&F, iM Financial, S-1, and Hyundai Elevator.