On December 4, 2024, after South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol declared emergency martial law, a man held a South Korean flag outside the National Assembly in Seoul. South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol declared emergency martial law on December 3, saying the move was necessary to protect the country from “communist forces” as parliament debated the budget bill.
Anthony Wallace | AFP | Getty Images
South Korea’s heavyweight stocks fell in volatile trading on Wednesday amid political turmoil and President Yun Seok-yeol’s reversal of a surprise martial law order he had imposed hours earlier.
Minutes before the market opened, Vice Minister of Economy and Finance Kim Byung-hwan said regulators were ready to deploy 10 trillion won ($7.07 billion) “at any time” to stabilize the stock market. Local media Yonhap News Agency reported.
Shares of South Korean chip manufacturing giant Samsung Electronics fell nearly 1%, while battery maker LG Energy Solution and carmaker Hyundai Motor fell even more, 2.8% and 2.4% respectively.
Chip giant SK Hynix edged lower in choppy trading. Shares of internet giant Naver Corp and battery maker Samsung SDI fell more than 2.5%.
Korea Gas Corporation led the decline in the Kospi index, falling more than 14%.
The benchmark Kospi index fell 2% and the Kosdaq fell 2.4%. The South Korean won further depreciated by 0.05% against the US dollar to 1,415.78.
Late on Tuesday night, Yun declared emergency martial law and mobilized the military, vowing to defeat “anti-national forces” among his opponents, but he reversed course after the National Assembly voted to overturn the presidential decree early on Wednesday.
Chong Koon Park, head of economic research for South Korea and Japan at Standard Chartered Bank, told CNBC in an email that the sudden outbreak of political chaos dealt a new blow to the country’s financial markets, causing capital outflows and weakening the currency.
The Bank of Korea held a special board meeting following the announcement. Financial regulators scold people Deploy “unlimited liquidity” to stabilize financial markets.
South Korean stocks traded sharply higher than U.S. stocks overnight. this iShares MSCI Korea ETF, The index tracking more than 90 large and medium-sized companies in South Korea fell 7% to hit a 52-week low before closing down 1.6%.
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