THE KIMCHI HAS HIT THE FAN: The South Korean stock market is in free fall, and these are the reasons*.
The Korean stock market is in free fall once again. Fears of cheaper Chinese competition making up ground and criticism leveled at investors in AI stocks by Broadcom’s chief executive combined to wipe more than 5% off its benchmark Kospi index.
After suffering heavy losses on Friday and Monday, the Kospi’s losing streak stretched to five sessions, and the market now languishes more than a third below the all-time high set in June of this year. Korea’s two largest companies by market capitalization, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix bore the brunt of the selloff with falls of 10% and 7%, respectively, and the pair was responsible for roughly half the market’s decline.
Korea’s stock-market fortunes are often taken as a proxy by investors for the AI trade as a whole. Nasdaq-100 futures fell by 0.5% on Tuesday.
*Additional reasons may apply:
This is what happens Larry. This is what happens when you elect a “progressive party” of communist sympathizers to government Larry. https://t.co/yjD4RUjG1K
— John Ʌ Konrad V (@johnkonrad) October 13, 2026