Public anger in Korea after the stock market collapsed with losses of two trillion dollars

The South Korean stock market witnessed a collapse of about 40% within a month, sparking a wave of popular anger among Koreans who borrowed money and entered the market late and lost most of their savings, with total losses reaching about two trillion dollars.
Regulators announced on Thursday that they would impose restrictions on individuals’ investments in leveraged single-stock mutual funds and raise the funds’ trading fees, which played a pivotal role in the Korean stock market collapse.
As the financial market collapsed this week, traders laid wreaths on the sidewalk opposite Seoul’s parliament building, protesting the government’s handling of individual leveraged investment funds.
Protesters wrote on some wreaths: “Individual investors have been massacred.” Another tape read: “Wait until it’s time to pay, I’ll pay next time I vote.”
Inside Parliament on Wednesday, South Korean Finance Minister Ko Yeon-chul came under pressure from opposition lawmakers and apologized for introducing leveraged products without careful consideration.
The main KOSPI index has fallen about 40% from its peak in June. The selling wave worsened yesterday, Wednesday, after SK Hynix announced lower-than-expected profits, which raised doubts about the investment boom in artificial intelligence and increased selling operations among individual traders.
The regulators argued that leveraged ETFs for individual stocks had amplified this volatility, making South Korea’s stock market significantly more volatile than its global counterparts, given the concentration of speculation in a few major corporate stocks.