South Korea's National Tax Service has opened a special tax audit of KB Kookmin Bank, extending a broader sweep of the financial sector that began in May. Investigators from Investigation Bureau 4 of the Seoul Regional Tax Office were sent to the bank's new headquarters in Seoul's Yeongdeungpo district to obtain accounting records and related materials, with the audit scheduled to continue through the end of this year. The specific trigger for the investigation has not been disclosed, and the tax agency said it cannot confirm matters involving audits of individual taxpayers. The move follows special tax audits of Hana Financial Group, Hana Bank and Meritz Securities launched days after President Lee Jae-myung called for an expansion of inclusive finance for low-credit borrowers. Industry observers see the KB Kookmin Bank case as part of that wider campaign, while the NTS says tax audits are routine operations conducted independently of specific policy direction. Market participants generally view such probes as unlikely to cause a direct hit to earnings because any back taxes are typically booked as one-time expenses, but the widening scope of inspections may pressure sentiment toward financial stocks as uncertainty persists through year-end.