Korea “Black Monday”: Kospi Halted For 20 Minutes After Crashing Almost 10%

After the close on Friday, we said that on Monday, Korean stocks would be a “bundle of joy”…

Korea on Monday will be a bundle of joy

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 5, 2026

… and that appears to be playing out in early Asian trading, as the Kospi index crashed 8.8% just after the open, taking the key index’s decline from its recent peak to nearly 17%, poised to enter a technical correction and on pace for an outright bear market (20% drop from highs) should the local plunge protection team fail to stem the collapse.

Memory maker Samsung Electronics fell as much as 11% while peer SK Hynix Inc. slid 10%.

Since these two stocks account for virtually all the recent upside in Korean stocks, levered retail investors – who were buying everything foreign investors had to sell after a record stretch of 21 days of non-stop selling… 

Foreigners have sold Korean stocks every single day – mostly to domestic ultra-levered retail investors – since May 6, the longest stretch on record by far. pic.twitter.com/78EQExLJr6

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 5, 2026

… are having a very bad day. 

The sudden plunge triggered a circuit breaker, halting trading for 20 minutes.  The Korea Exchange held an emergency meeting Monday to assess rising volatility and discuss measures to ensure stable market operations.

Concerns over overheating in the AI rally combined with uncertainty in the macro environment have taken some steam out of global tech stocks over the past few sessions. Korea is seeing outsized losses after its world-beating gains, with the Kospi still up 77% since the start of the year.

As we pointed out most recently last Thursday just as the Kospi hit its all time high, foreign investors have been fleeing, selling more than $10 billion worth of Kospi shares on a net basis last week alone. That’s put pressure on the won, with the currency touching its weakest level against the dollar since March 2009.   

The South Korean market faces risk of a “Black Monday” event with “currency instability, interest-rate repricing and profit taking in semiconductors all happening at the same time,” said Kim Doo-un, an analyst at Hana Securities.

The government on Sunday laid out a series of targeted measures to try and bolster the won, pledging firm action against speculative trading and other activities. The moves come as policymakers across Asia step up efforts to support their currencies amid rising energy costs and a stronger dollar stemming from the Iran war.

The government on Sunday laid out a series of targeted measures to try and bolster the won, pledging firm action against speculative trading and other activities. The moves come as policymakers across Asia step up efforts to support their currencies amid rising energy costs and a stronger dollar stemming from the Iran war.