FILE: Seoul, ROK - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Various of sign of Korea Exchange
2. Various of staff members working

FILE: Seoul, ROK - April 2, 2026 (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
3. Various of national flags of ROK, pedestrians

FILE: ROK - Date Unknown (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
4. Samsung flag
5. People entering Samsung building
6. Various of SK Hynix building, sign

FILE: ROK - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
7. Various of semiconductor production lines, workers

FILE: Seoul, South Korea - 2025 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
8. Various of traffic, cityscape

The Republic of Korea (ROK)'s bourse operator on Friday triggered a circuit breaker, a mechanism that halts trading when indexes plunge beyond set thresholds, amid a sharp sell‑off in big tech shares.

The benchmark KOSPI dropped 730.49 points, or 8.18 percent, to trade at 8,199.81 as of 12:18 local time (0318 GMT), while the smaller KOSDAQ tumbled 45.87 points, or 5.17 percent, to finish at 841.94.

The Korea Exchange activated the circuit breaker on the KOSPI market following a bout of panic selling in big tech shares such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix.

Foreign investors led the panic selling due to rising fears of lower global demand for memory chips and concerns about overinvestment among the U.S. big tech companies.

The circuit breaker is issued in stages when the KOSPI or KOSDAQ dives by 8 percent, 15 percent and 20 percent.

The first two stages halt trading for 20 minutes, followed by a 10-minute single price auction, while the final stage instantly shuts down the market for the day.