EIRL vs FLKR

EIRLCiShares MSCI Ireland ETF

FLKRBFranklin FTSE South Korea ETF

In short

EIRL Ireland in one ticker. Since 2010, EIRL has tracked a capped index of Irish equities, roughly two dozen names, making it one of the few ways US investors get a dedicated slice of a single small European market.

FLKR Korea in one passive basket for 0.09% a year, a fraction of the 0.50% typical single-country fee. Roughly 160 Korean names tracking a capped FTSE index, run as plain index plumbing rather than a stock-picking bet.

Stated mandate

EIRL The Fund seeks to track a broad-based index of Irish equities.

FLKR The Fund uses a passive indexing approach to seek returns that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the FTSE South Korea Capped Index.

Why people hold it

• EIRL Pure-play Ireland exposure in a single trade. It tracks the MSCI All Ireland Capped Index, and the capped design limits how heavy any one name can get at rebalance.ishares.com
• Launched in 2010 and run by iShares, so it comes with a long continuous history and BlackRock's index-fund plumbing behind it.
• The 0.50% expense ratio sits right at the median for developed single-country funds. No novelty premium for the narrow mandate.

• FLKR Charges 0.09% a year against a 0.50% median for single-country developed-market ETFs, tying FLAU as the cheapest fee among this cohort's leaders and undercutting EWC and EWU by a wide margin.
• Straight indexing: it seeks returns that closely correspond, before fees, to the FTSE South Korea Capped Index. No manager views, no discretionary tilts.
• The capped index spreads roughly 160 stocks and limits how far any single giant can dominate the basket, which matters in a market this top-heavy.
• A billion-dollar-plus fund that trades actively, and it has been running since 2017, so it is well past the launch-window stage.

Worth knowing

• EIRL Roughly two dozen holdings. A few large names and one or two sectors steer the fund far more than they would in a broad international index.
• Thinly traded. Spreads tend to run wider than on the cohort's household names, so limit orders do real work here.
• Cheaper shelf-mates exist in the single-country aisle: Franklin's FLAU and FLKR charge 0.09%. None of them cover Ireland, but the fee gap is real.

• FLKR One country, one currency. Korean shares price in won, so the exchange rate is baked into what a US investor sees, separate from how the companies do.
• Roughly 160 stocks in a single export-driven market is a narrow slice next to a global fund. Capping softens concentration, it does not erase it.
• Distributions land annually or semiannually, not monthly, so it is built as an equity holding rather than an income schedule.

Full EIRL profile⁠

Full FLKR profile⁠