South Korea was plunged into chaos that the country had not seen in over 4 decades when its president, Yoon Suk Yeol, a leader who does not mind being disliked, declared martial law earlier this month, on December 3.
The South Korean Saga
Martial law entails profuse privileges for the president, providing the office holder with sweeping powers, and clamping down on civil and political/legislative liberties. The martial law itself did not last for long, as it was repealed by South Korean legislators.
However, the chaos was never over, far from it. After an unsuccessful attempt, Yeol was impeached in the second attempt, taking away his powers. All this has presented the most important and vibrant democracies in the global South and East Asia with a predicament like never before.
South Korea was plunged into chaos that the country had not seen in over 4 decades when its president, Yoon Suk Yeol, a leader who does not mind being disliked, declared martial law earlier this month, on December 3.
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This apparent uncertainty has also impacted the Korean equity markets. The markets had declined in their value over the past few weeks, since the “coup attempt”.
The Korean-speaking nation was further given another jolt, when Yeol’s replacement, the acting president, Han Duck-soo was also impeached by the country’s legislator.
South Korea is currently under the new leadership of acting president Choi Sang-mok.
Korean Index In Limbo
When we take a closer look at the aforementioned Korean markets, we see a significant overall decline in its value.
Just in the past week itself, when the Korean chaos entered part 11 of its saga, the Korean benchmark KOSPI index dipped a mammoth 1.02 per cent or 24.86 points.
Trading in the past 5 sessions or a week. |
On the last of trading of the previous week, the index decreased in value by over 1 per cent.
Trading in the past month since the declaration of martial law. |
And when we look at the index’s performance over the past month, matching the time since the Korean kerfuffle started, the index has dropped in value by an even greater 2.08 per cent or 51.14.
This decline in the past month has brought the overall value of KOSPI to 2,404.77 points.
For context, Japan’s Nikkei 225, another major index in Asia, rose by 5.43 per cent or 2,073.13 points, meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng also surged by 3.43 per cent or 666.85 in the same period.
