The US and European stock markets might be numb to the enormity of the AI bubble at this point, but in East Asia it’s a different story.

In South Korea, the AI bubble appears to be bursting — at least partially — with the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kopsi) plummeting by over 40 percent from its June highs after the Korean chipmaker SK Hynix failed to impress investors despite reporting a sixfold increase in quarterly earnings.

Across July 28 and 29, Seoul Economic Daily reports widespread panic triggered not just one but two “circuit breakers” on the Korea Exchange, a sort of automated kill switch that halts regular trading for 30 minutes so panic-stricken traders can gather their thoughts.

The recent panic marks the first time the Kopsi has ever triggered two consecutive circuit breakers, and only the 14th and 15th Kopsi activations in the Korean Exchange’s history. The tech-heavy Korea Securities Dealers Automated Quotations, or Kosdaq, also reached circuit-breaker-tripping levels two days in a row for the third time ever — the previous incidents coming in 2020 and 2008, if that’s any indication of the amount of turbulence roiling Korean financial markets.

In response, the South Korean government has scrambled to implement cooling measures and prevent an all-out financial crisis. The government already moved to ban new listings of single-stock leveraged ETFs — a high-risk, high-reward kind of financial product bearing some of the blame for the panic — though it clearly wasn’t enough to prevent billions of dollars from fleeing the Korean stock market.

According to Bloomberg, government officials are now convening an emergency meeting to discuss additional measures.

“We’ve already put in place a package of measures, but if it’s needed we’ll introduce additional steps to help normalize the market,” Finance Minister Koo Yun Cheol told lawmakers, per Bloomberg.

Korea’s conservative People Power Party seized on the chance to blast their opponents’ handling of the financial panic, with lawmaker Lee Jongwook declaring that the “country has turned into a casino.”

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