Korean retail investors flee to Wall Street as KOSPI rout deepens

South Korea's stock market rout is reversing a government push to lure retail 'ant' investors home, sparking the biggest rush into U.S. markets in six months and threatening the won. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix drove 76% of the KOSPI's 2,257.8 trillion won ($1.59 trillion) value wipeout amid AI spending concerns and Chinese competition. Retail deposits in tax-incentivized Re-shoring Investment Accounts fell for the first time in July, while investors bought a net $278 million of overseas equities in August.