[South Korean Media: Lawmakers Discuss Unrealized Gains from Stocks and Real Estate as Income, Should Be Subject to Comprehensive Taxation] Gold Finance reports that on June 23, the Korean stock market faced heavy selling pressure today, with the Korea Composite Index plunging 9.99%, marking the largest decline in three months; Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both closed down over 12%. Besides market concerns that this round of rally has become overly extended and the reasons behind the increased selling of chip leader stocks, a “Korean short essay” circulating wildly on social media is said to have become one of the catalysts triggering retail investor panic.

The report, under the name of “Yonhap News Agency,” claims that lawmakers across the Korean political spectrum are jointly proposing aggressive tax reforms, intending to treat “unrealized gains (floating profits) from investments such as real estate and stocks as personal income for comprehensive taxation,” and states that “even without selling assets, taxes should be levied on the substantial increase in net assets.”
Analysts point out that the Korean stock market has recently accumulated huge profits due to the AI chip boom, and the market itself is in a sensitive high position. Against the backdrop of regulatory authorities recently warning repeatedly to prevent excessive leverage, such policy-related “short essays” and rumors often get amplified infinitely, thereby accelerating a technical correction in Korea’s bull market.