That volatility, felt on dealing desks from Tokyo to New York, has not only wreaked havoc with portfolios - it has also dramatically distorted investors' views on fundamentals in South Korea, a market at the heart of the global AI boom. More than half of all stock market circuit breakers on the benchmark KOSPI - trading curbs activated when the index loses more than 8% for at least a minute - in South Korean history have occurred in the past six months alone.

The sharp swings have unsettled investors and regulators alike, with market movements increasingly driven by leveraged investment products rather than corporate fundamentals. The…

“We are all Korean investors now,” said Hani Redha, a London-based portfolio manager at PineBridge Investments.