PPP calls Korean stock market a 'Squid Game,' blames Lee government's incompetence and market meddling

The People Power Party on Thursday criticized the Lee Jae Myung government over the consecutive daily plunges of more than 5 percent in the Kospi and Kosdaq, calling the turmoil a "'Squid Game' stock market born of the Lee administration's incompetence and heavy-handed market intervention."

Choi Bo-yoon, the party's chief spokesperson, said in a statement that "South Korea's stock market has collapsed entirely in just three days," adding that "an unprecedented situation has unfolded in which the Kospi and Kosdaq have repeatedly plunged more than 5 percent day after day, triggering a cascade of sell-side sidecars. With the total market capitalization falling below the 6,000 trillion won ($3.93 trillion) mark in just seven weeks, the market has gone beyond fear into paralysis."

Choi argued that "this crash is not due to any weakness in our companies," noting that Samsung Electronics had effectively set a new milestone with quarterly operating profit approaching 100 trillion won — its best performance in history — yet its share price swung and plunged nearly 10 percent in a single day.

She went on to say that circuit breakers had already been triggered six times this year alone, and that "the true culprits behind this absurd situation — in which foreign media mock the Korean stock market as a 'casino' and a 'Squid Game' — are none other than the Lee Jae Myung government and the financial authorities."

She criticized the crisis as "a clear man-made disaster combining the administration's policy failures with clumsy market intervention."