The KOSPI rose 61.76 points to 6,320.53 in early trading, a gain of 1.0 percent.
The bounce was stronger on the junior market, where the KOSDAQ climbed 3.1 percent to 823.38, and it extended across the region, with the Nikkei 225 up 1.1 percent in Tokyo. Foreign investors, whose selling drove last week's slide, were still net sellers in Seoul.
The main index in Seoul closed Friday at 6,258.77, down 0.6 percent, capping the weekly loss.
Kim Dong-won, head of research at KB Securities, estimated in a Monday note that Samsung Electronics will set annual shareholder returns at between 100 trillion won and 200 trillion won ($70.8 billion to $141.7 billion), against 9.8 trillion won ($6.9 billion) now.
He kept a buy rating and a target price of 600,000 won ($425.00), calling the current level a conviction buying zone.
At Friday's close, the note said, a payout above 100 trillion won would push the dividend yield past 7 percent.
Samsung Electronics traded at 235,500 won ($166.81), up 1.9 percent. SK hynix rose 3.2 percent to 1,468,000 won ($1,039.81), and Samsung Electro-Mechanics gained 4.1 percent to 1,330,000 won ($942.06).
SK hynix declared a quarterly dividend of 375 won ($0.27) per common share on Friday and has signaled further shareholder return steps this quarter.
The rally was narrow. Decliners outnumbered advancers on the main board, 471 to 359.
Foreign investors sold a net 158.5 billion won ($112.3 million) of KOSPI shares in early trading, while institutions bought 133.2 billion won ($94.3 million) and individuals 13.4 billion won ($9.5 million).
Outside chips, nonferrous metals led sector gains at 6.1 percent, followed by biotechnology at 5.6 percent and venture capital at 5.3 percent.
The Nikkei 225 stood at 66,303.27, up 696.56 points.
The won traded at 1,411.80 per dollar, marginally weaker than Friday.
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